Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Wishing4Wings]

All you ladies with baby fever should become doulas! The miracle of birth without doing it yourself!! My 3rd just turned 6 months, I think I'm complete, but I have a feeling I'll get the itch around 30, because I'm a glutton for punishment!!

Reason I came is to vent my impatience, my little pekin Cho has been red for weeks, and nothing, 23 weeks old so surely she can't hold out much longer. Cho and Ginny are the eldest of my girls but I'm at the point where I reckon the Sussex will probably lay first, they are about 18 weeks but combs are still small and light

Hi

Welcome. We vent all sorts of stuff here! If I could have a do over, I would have had my kids before turning 30 instead of in very late 30s. You have so much more energy then! Happy half birthday to your little one!


If your Pekin is like mine (called Cochin in US), they don't seem to be in a hurry to lay, even with the red comb. And the eggs are small for the size of the chicken. They make up for that by being such sweeties and good broodies too. Mine are bantam cochin, and it was over 7 months before the first egg. Cho does look close. Hopefully she won't keep you waiting too much longer.

 

[mortie]

Sorry for addressing my question to "Ladies" I forget there are some dudes around here...

I'll wait and see what she does.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

So ladies, I'm going to throw some newb questions your way. Here we go.

This morning, Midge growled and bit me when I opened the nest box and petted her while she was inside. I have not heard her growl since she was broody before, even though I have bothered her on the nest many times. I put an egg next to her and she ignored it unti I shut the lid, then she tucked it in. I put her on the ground and she sat there for a few seconds, then ran off toward the run door. When I let her in, she went right up into the coop again (she was in the favorite nest so someone had jumped in there during the minute or so she was gone lol). I left her alone then and went in the house. A half hour later she came out and is now out with the others in the run. She did lay today. I know she did not sleep in the box.

I was planning on incubating some eggs for a friend starting a week from today. I have also told myself that maybe if someone went broody I would let her sit and hatch them herself, in order to be able to watch a mom with chicks because it's so darn cute and also to eliminate the stress I personally feel when incubating eggs and thermometers and thermostats and temps and humidity...oh the stress! Just let the bird do it, right?

So here are my questions. Starting with I'm not even sure she's going to go broody. She might but she didn't stay in the nest this morning. Last time it took her about a week or goofing off and sitting in there for progressively longer times before she went full on. So she might not be. Moving on. I don't really have the setup where I can separate her. If I were to let her sit, she would more or less have to stay in the coop. I could separate them possibly if/when chicks hatch but I can't really keep midge by herself right now. I do have a little pen I could use but for the most part she has to stay in the coop because it's just too cold and bringing her in the house is not an option.

This brings me to my next point. How cold is too cold to hatch chicks? These boogers, if we do this, will hatch the first week of April. It'll probably still be in the 40s then and possibly colder. It will still drop below freezing regularly, and frost is a given. I know mom keeps them warm but is that took cold? I don't plan on keeping them for a long time. I'd basically be giving my friend her chicks as soon as she can take them. Maybe I'd leave a couple with her for a bit longer but I can't have more chickens where I'm at now so at a fairly young age the chicks would have to go.

Is that mean? Will she be sad?

Sorry for all the questions. The broody stuff is new to me. If I was putting them in the bator, I'd know just what to do.

A broody hen doesn't sit full time until she has amassed a suitable amount of eggs. Then she will brood the whole bunch at once to synchronize the hatch. Midge is probably in the clutch building stage, which is why she's acting semi-broody. If she's serious, she will be at the mercy of her hormones and go into the setting stage regardless of the presence of eggs. That's why Ron suggests waiting two weeks before giving her fertile eggs.

Don't have much more to add about temps, but since she is untested at going the distance, I would have an incubator backup just in case she gives up before they hatch. Hens with good instincts know how to keep chicks warm when out and about in cold weather. Chicks also have to have the right instincts to keep from getting chilled. It can happen quickly.

As far as taking the chicks away, I wonder if it's harder on the chicks once they imprint on mommy. They grow so fast, they'll probably get over it quickly, and they go through it anyway when mama decides she's done her job. You do have to protect the babies from the flock. Maybe for about a week or two or more? Ron might know. My mom usually waited until the chicks started feathering before joining the flock.

Chicks are fun either way you hatch 'em. Actually, taking the chicks away from your kids might prove the hardest part!

 

[mortie]

Should I really let her sit for 2 whole weeks before I get her eggs though? That's a long time to be sitting, that plus another 3 weeks of sitting on eggs. If she quits and I catch it in time I can always just stick them in the bator.

 

[mortie]

oooh I thought he meant to let her sit solid for 2 weeks. That makes more sense. Got it.

If/when chicks hatch I can put them in a temporary pen and that will be okay, I just don't want her in it for several weeks. I won't have the chicks that long. Week tops I would think. I can set it up right next to the main run so everyone can see each other so it's not hard to reintroduce her. Just for right now I don't want her out for several weeks without a proper coop. I don't know if that makes sense...it does in my head...

 

[Wishing4Wings]

That sounds like a good plan. She can easily hatch in the nest box, and you can move her after a day or two. You might need to give her a bit of room service during the "lock down" stage and right after hatch.

 

[mortie]

For sure.

We'll see what she does I guess.

So I just went out there to see what was what in side the coop. It's looking GREAT in there. I'm so pleased. This was my first winter so I didn't know how it would go with the DLM and it's done great. Aside from the removal of some of the bedding and poop back when Penny got frostbite, it's been fine. I just went out and it looks awesome. I stirred it up the bedding and it smells like nothing, maybe dirt and looks like dirt. No moisture, no mold, no stink. Looks like pine shavings mixed with dirt. This stuff just thawed a couple of days ago and I know up until yesterday there was a good bit of poop sitting on top of the shavings so it's already worked its way in and dried out.

I'm planning on cleaning all the bedding out in another couple of weeks while will be only the second time I've done it in the year I've had chickens. I've been pretty happy with the DLM and survived my first year and it went better than I hoped.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Sounds like you have a lot of lovely compost for your garden. How often do you clean out the coop with DLM?

 

[mortie]

A lot of stuff I read said in fall and spring so I decided to try that. I swapped out a bit of it in the winter but mostly it's been intact. So pretty much spring and fall for me. Unless it gets too wet or something...i dunno. They say you should swap it out if it smells, perhaps leaving a layer of it on the bottom. I am using kind of a modified DLM because from what I read, true DLM is on bare ground so it can truly compost. I read in an elevated coop like mine it doesn't have the full effect but honestly for me it's been working great.

 

[cheeka]

there are exceptions to that losing chicks deal... Peach hatched a bunch of eggs for a friend of mine who would not wait for her to raise them a bit. from the moment the woman took the chicks away and for 3 solid days after, Peach did nothing but pace and chirrup for her babies. it was awful. it was May and essentially, no chicks to be had until I stumbled on someone who had 3 week old chicks. she gave me 3. Peach was instantly gratified. pecked them all on their heads, called them to follow and went on with life.