Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

higher percentage of successful hatches with using incubators? T

I have large hens that tend to break their eggs. Also when it's humid I have had zero hatch under the hens. So I usually give a few fresh eggs to a broody and put some in the incubator so they all hatch at the same time. I give the broody the incubated chicks.
Last couple years I haven't interfered due to long covid. Out of 18 chicken broodies 3 hatched one or two chicks.
A turkey hatched 4 and she killed one along with a couple poults. (She was sold with full disclosure. I think she was the one that did the same the year before) I gave the remaining babies to "good mama " turkey hen who had a mink get the pullet at about 8 weeks.
I have had pullet hens show up with chicks though.
All the turkeys hatch their eggs. They aren't always the best moms though

 

[fluffycrow]

I have large hens that tend to break their eggs. Also when it's humid I have had zero hatch under the hens. So I usually give a few fresh eggs to a broody and put some in the incubator so they all hatch at the same time. I give the broody the incubated chicks.
Last couple years I haven't interfered due to long covid. Out of 18 chicken broodies 3 hatched one or two chicks.
A turkey hatched 4 and she killed one along with a couple poults. (She was sold with full disclosure. I think she was the one that did the same the year before) I gave the remaining babies to "good mama " turkey hen who had a mink get the pullet at about 8 weeks.
I have had pullet hens show up with chicks though.
All the turkeys hatch their eggs. They aren't always the best moms though

Thank you for reminding me to be more careful with my posts, Molpet. I should have written that both are about equally successful, if we don't take into account all the mishaps that could happen in either case. Hens breaking eggs, hens not committing to brooding, the environment not being conducive (high humidity or very low/high temperatures), and power blackouts, handler errors, faulty incubators on the side of the machines. These factors you mention you've experienced with your birds are some more things we need to take into account. A lot of today's birds cannot brood, for reasons such as bodyweight, poor feather quality (as in the case of frazzles), etc. My Ursula wasn't a good broody. She wouldn't keep her eggs under her, she'd get up too often, and she eventually abandoned them; there are many more stories on BYC that tell the same tale

 

[MrsNorthie]

Actually it was an information system that got it wrong. The post office had been told the software was correct.

It wasn't.

Post masters organised themselves and got some action out of the post office.

The post office's own auditor told them the software was wrong.

The post office started covering up.

There's more to it than I've written here. Loads of info if you search for UK post office scandal.

My husband has been following it more closely than I, but that makes it even worse, the auditor finding the software flawed and the postal service covered it up and destroyed people's lives. :-( I hope that justice is served.

 

[Perris]

Thanks for your thoughtful and informative post @fluffycrow ; lots of good points there, not least raising awareness that different people can have different reasons for doing the same thing. What immediately springs to mind for me on broodies v incubators is 1. huge difference in scale - that's why incubators are used commercially, and have such a long history (the ancient Egyptians designed them even before the Greeks started writing!) and 2. all eggs start together and endure the same (more or less) conditions in an incubator, certainly by comparison with being under a hen.

@Molpet thanks for your input too; personal experience is the reality check on all our ideas! None of this is simple, and multiple types and possible causes of the variation is why it's tricky to unravel this one.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

are you a fan of homity pie?

What is homity pie?

 

[Perris]

What is homity pie?

https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/homity-pie/ It's a delicious cheese, onion, garlic and potato pie, and easy to make, especially if you use ready-made pasty.

 

[fluffycrow]

Thanks for your thoughtful and informative post @fluffycrow ; lots of good points there, not least raising awareness that different people can have different reasons for doing the same thing. What immediately springs to mind for me on broodies v incubators is 1. huge difference in scale - that's why incubators are used commercially, and have such a long history (the ancient Egyptians designed them even before the Greeks started writing!) and 2. all eggs start together and endure the same (more or less) conditions in an incubator, certainly by comparison with being under a hen.

@Molpet thanks for your input too; personal experience is the reality check on all our ideas! None of this is simple, and multiple types and possible causes of the variation is why it's tricky to unravel this one.

Yes, incubators are definitely the preferred method when going large scale. I guess we can say that in the case of something going wrong while using an incubator leads to the demise of all, or most of the eggs. In the case of a broody, one mistake might claim the lives of fewer chicks, comparatively

 

[MrsNorthie]

I have large hens that tend to break their eggs. Also when it's humid I have had zero hatch under the hens. So I usually give a few fresh eggs to a broody and put some in the incubator so they all hatch at the same time. I give the broody the incubated chicks.

Thank you for reminding me to be more careful with my posts, Molpet. I should have written that both are about equally successful, if we don't take into account all the mishaps that could happen in either case.

None of this is simple, and multiple types and possible causes of the variation is why it's tricky to unravel this one.

With more of my lovely girls flirting with broodiness, I am grateful for this discussion. I am not overly anxious for them to hatch right now, but we will want them to, at some point. Eventually they will reach an age where we will have to consider the continuation of the tribe rather than expanding. (unless the economy straightens out and I can sell this place to then buy something with more land and situated in a position conducive to truly free ranging.)

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Miss Rizzle (Skeksis's first grandchild) is broody.

View attachment 3761219

She is beautiful.

 

[fluffycrow]

With more of my lovely girls flirting with broodiness, I am grateful for this discussion. I am not overly anxious for them to hatch right now, but we will want them to, at some point. Eventually they will reach an age where we will have to consider the continuation of the tribe rather than expanding. (unless the economy straightens out and I can sell this place to then buy something with more land and situated in a position conducive to truly free ranging.)

Best of luck, hope your introduction to broody hens is a nice one. Less than a year ago, the concept of a broody seemed like an unreachable dream. Now I'm happy to say that I've had a few experiences of my own, and I'm so grateful for that