The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

muttsfan - I've had that happen too.

Cyn - I had a hen that had not laid an egg in a year and a half go broody this year. She is my 6 year old hatchery light brahma. She had never been broody before either. She did fine and was a great mother to her 3 chicks, though I was a bit shocked that a hen that is not laying would still go broody.

Really?? She didn't lay one egg and still went broody? Oh, my, I've never known that to happen. Very interesting! Neither of my hatchery Brahmas ever went broody. Caroline will turn 8 yrs old in a couple of weeks. The Lt. Brahma died at 5 1/2, never having shown any inclination. I love my Brahmas, had better luck with them than any other hatchery breed I've ever owned. Love those gals.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Really?? She didn't lay one egg and still went broody? Oh, my, I've never known that to happen. Very interesting! Neither of my hatchery Brahmas ever went broody. Caroline will turn 8 yrs old in a couple of weeks. The Lt. Brahma died at 5 1/2, never having shown any inclination. I love my Brahmas, had better luck with them than any other hatchery breed I've ever owned. Love those gals.

Yep, I was pretty shocked myself. She is in with my Welsummer flock, so her egg is very obvious. She laid several fart eggs around 4 1/2 years old, then quit altogether. She is one of my original hens. (I only have 2 left, her and a Barred Rock) With the fart eggs, I thought she was having internal laying issues, but her weight is really good, so I'm not sure why she quit laying.

 

[speckledhen]

Yep, I was pretty shocked myself. She is in with my Welsummer flock, so her egg is very obvious. She laid several fart eggs around 4 1/2 years old, then quit altogether. She is one of my original hens. (I only have 2 left, her and a Barred Rock) With the fart eggs, I thought she was having internal laying issues, but her weight is really good, so I'm not sure why she quit laying.

Caroline quit laying around 6 years old, then at the beginning of this year, I got three eggs that I could swear were hers-they have a distinctive round shape and were quite large, exactly what I remember her laying. No other old lady laid that type egg in the Old Hens' Retirement Home & Hospice. And I had seen her sitting in those locations where I found the eggs, too. I don't think she has any egg issues, though she developed pendulous crop over the past year and has to have some massages every week to be sure things are moving along.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Rachel is full-on psycho broody. I went into my egg stash in the basement where I had been collecting a few from that group in case someone local asked for them and pulled out 5 eggs, 3 from Dottie, 1 each from Rachel and Rowena. So, it's on! Atlas is going to be a papa!

She is in the bottom nest of the two drawer file cabinet nest box and I will leave her inside that coop until they hatch, then move her out. Their pen is not baby-proof and babies can wander into the adjoining coops or get out and underneath the coop and fall into rat holes or fall prey to our recently acquired cat-I'm sure the temptation of a chick would be too much for Finn. This will be interesting, to see how Finn does when a broody is out with her tiny chicks, as well as to see how Rachel does with the cat. Dottie or Nugget would be all over the cat, I know from experience, but who knows what Miss Rachel will do? We shall all see!


Day 21 is January 19, 2015.

And so the countdown begins. Best case scenario, they all hatch and Rachel is a good momma when do you feel comfortable letting them go?

 

[speckledhen]

And so the countdown begins. Best case scenario, they all hatch and Rachel is a good momma when do you feel comfortable letting them go?

Much depends on how many hatch and how she acts. I will never again remove all chicks from a broody hen after what happened with Glenda, Caroline's daughter with Suede, many years ago. I took advice of some here, being new to the broody world, when told if you take the chicks away, the hen will forget about them in a day or so, and regretted it immensely. I sold her chicks when they were just over a week old. She looked for them in the broody pen where she last saw them for months. It broke my heart. She got to keep the next batch as long as she wanted them and I'll never do that again. They'd be about 4-5 weeks old at the end of February, a time when many broodies give them up anyway. I've had one let hers go at less than three weeks old and some keep them for a much longer time. At a month old, I'd feel comfortable letting them all except maybe one go, but it really depends on Rachel's attitude. Of course, if she decided to dump all the kids at once, they could all leave at that time. We just never know when that will be with a new broody.

Now, it may happen that another hen goes broody and we'd have more chicks. Dottie is on a nest right now acting a little weird. Have to go back out to see if she intends to stay there overnight. If she does, I'd probably give her the other eggs. I never say no to Dottie, she's such a terrific mom. Dottie keeps hers until after 8 weeks old every time, though.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

How are Miss Dottie and Miss Rachel this morning?

I spoke to my husband last night about the prospect of having some Atlas babies and he was just as excited as I am.

Since the world of broodies is totally uncharted territory for me I was wondering, if Rachel decides at a couple of weeks or earlier that she is over being a Momma, would Dottie step up and adopt Rachel's chicks if she didn't have chicks of her own to raise at the time? The reason I am asking is that one of the members of our local BYC club told a story about ordering some chicks from a hatchery and put them with one of her "good Momma" hens who was not broody at the time. She said that she could see the expression on her hen's face change when she saw the babies and she said within a few hours you would never know that the chicks were not hers. Is that normal? Or is she lucky to have such a good hen she can trust with new chicks?

 

[speckledhen]

How are Miss Dottie and Miss Rachel this morning?

I spoke to my husband last night about the prospect of having some Atlas babies and he was just as excited as I am.

Since the world of broodies is totally uncharted territory for me I was wondering, if Rachel decides at a couple of weeks or earlier that she is over being a Momma, would Dottie step up and adopt Rachel's chicks if she didn't have chicks of her own to raise at the time? The reason I am asking is that one of the members of our local BYC club told a story about ordering some chicks from a hatchery and put them with one of her "good Momma" hens who was not broody at the time. She said that she could see the expression on her hen's face change when she saw the babies and she said within a few hours you would never know that the chicks were not hers. Is that normal? Or is she lucky to have such a good hen she can trust with new chicks?

I haven't even been out there today. DH checked on everyone before we left to grocery shop and I asked about Rachel. He said, "Rachel is Rachel", which means she's a screaming nut of a broody, LOL. Dottie didn't stay on the nest yesterday, so isn't broody yet. I don't believe Dottie would adopt the chicks unless she was broody already. Dottie didn't adopt the last two that hatched with another hen when she had been broody for just a week and had just started sitting herself. I let them hatch under her, which she was fine with, wasn't hostile to the chicks, but she refused to mother them, wanted to sit, somehow knowing the timing was wrong. Some will do it, some won't. Some will just kill chicks they know are not theirs, even if they are broody.

 

[1muttsfan]

Most hens will not adopt chicks if they have not been broody, and may even hurt or kill them if forced into close contact.

 

[speckledhen]

Most hens will not adopt chicks if they have not been broody, and may even hurt or kill them if forced into close contact.

My LF hens are all very hostile if not broody and even if they are, they will peck at chicks they know belong with another hen. Now, the Belgian D'Anvers are a different story. A couple may peck at a chick if not broody, but they are more like Silkies at times and will mother and feed chicks that are not theirs, sometimes even if they haven't been broody. They're a strange bunch, the D'Anvers. The roosters love chicks, are so excited when they have some to take care of.

 

[drumstick diva]

Roosters caring for the chicks, that would make a great video.