The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Pnoah1]

No expert, having only had three naturally broody hens ever, but wouldn't the danger be that if you "made" a hen broody somehow she still might not stick it out the whole 21 days? And you would waste viable eggs if she bailed?

I read on a different forum that if you bring a bx with a door built into the house if you stick like golf balls under the hen and keep her in the box, let her out once a day to get food and water like a hen would when shes broody it will stimulate her to become broody.

 

[ki4got]

talking about "making" hens broody, even those who chronically go broody, I don't give them eggs. I hatch everything in an incubator and then give hens chicks as they come along. the Dorkings are quite willing to go broody lately. LOL

probably overload, but I had 22 RIR chicks under one girl for 3 days (sold all the chicks yesterday), I've got 30 sfh and bantam cochin chicks under another hen (the one who had the RIR wouldn't take any other color) and another dorking hen outside with about 20 sfh and cochins under her. (2-3 weeks old).

this is yesterday's hatch, and momma in her brooder still. 15 each of cochins and sfh.

Momma


The bantam Cochins (bbs mottled, red & buff)


and the Swedish Flower Hens...

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
that just sounds mean to me... some hens just aren't wired right to become broody. it's just a fact of life. just like people.

 

[Pnoah1]

that just sounds mean to me... some hens just aren't wired right to become broody. it's just a fact of life. just like people.

Well I haven't done it I was just saying I read you could do that, but I am just sticking with trying to keep fake eggs built into the nest boxes.

How do you get a hen to take to chicks might I ask?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/657764/how-do-i-encourage-my-hens-to-go-broody#post_8881988

This is the link I didn't mean technically a box but you get the idea

 

[ki4got]

How do you get a hen to take to chicks might I ask?

when i have eggs hatching, then on day 20, if a hen has been consistently broody for a week or more, i'll put her in a tote in the house with a few eggs overnight. if she's still willing to sit on the eggs the next morning without flying out of the tote when I take the lid off (wire insert in the lid btw) then i'll put a pipped egg under her from the hatcher. once her chick has hatched, if she's starting to feel 'motherly' then i'll start adding chicks as they hatch. that evening i'll take away her eggs. the next morning i'll put her in a brooder with food and water and her chicks so she can start teaching them to be chickens.

once the chicks are about a week old, momma starts getting antsy to move about, so then they get moved to a pen outside. when the chicks are 6 + weeks old, then i'll start letting momma free range for a couple hours a day with them and expand from there as the chicks grow.

 

[lalaland]

when i have eggs hatching, then on day 20, if a hen has been consistently broody for a week or more, i'll put her in a tote in the house with a few eggs overnight. if she's still willing to sit on the eggs the next morning without flying out of the tote when I take the lid off (wire insert in the lid btw) then i'll put a pipped egg under her from the hatcher. once her chick has hatched, if she's starting to feel 'motherly' then i'll start adding chicks as they hatch. that evening i'll take away her eggs. the next morning i'll put her in a brooder with food and water and her chicks so she can start teaching them to be chickens.

once the chicks are about a week old, momma starts getting antsy to move about, so then they get moved to a pen outside. when the chicks are 6 + weeks old, then i'll start letting momma free range for a couple hours a day with them and expand from there as the chicks grow.

that's so interesting. my broody is a first time momma, and she took the babies outside today at one and two days old. It is going to be stormy tomorrow and I'm feeling guilty about leaving them shut up in the small broody space - it isn't a very bright space the way the windows are positioned, which was perfect for a quiet broody but not so great for mom and chicks.

do you find there is a typical age when momma is done being "momma" with the chicks?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
that depends on the hen... I have one girl that quit momma-duty around 5 days after hatch last year, buffy tends to keep hers till well after starting to lay and go broody again. LOL her ee 'daughter' helped her incubate some wooden eggs last summer. but I didn't have more chicks to give her so I caged her for a few days and she 'got over it'.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Behind. But wanted to do a quick post then off to work. (This speaks of bees...but consider your health and the health of your animals too.)

"Our investigation is the first to show that so called 'bee-friendly' garden plants contain pesticides that can poison bees, with no warning to gardeners. Bees are essential to our food system and they are dying at alarming rates. Neonic pesticides are a key part of the problem we can start to fix right now in our own backyards."

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I find it interesting that in the report that Leahs Mom quotes on the dangers of 3 specific neonicotinoids, it also cites evidence that pyrethroids ( a synthetic form of pyrethrin which is widely regarded as a "natural", "organic" pesticide) pose the same dangers. This only serves to reinforce my belief that just because something is "natural" or "organic", it may very well be just as, or even more, damaging as "man-made" materials. A chemical is a chemical is a chemical..... the entire world is composed of nothing but various chemicals, it's a basic law of nature! So please before you decide that one chemical (or plant) is perfectly fine whilst another is toxic, THINK about it. Ricin is perfectly organic and derived from a plant that's been around forever... however I would NOT recommend feeding castor beans to your chickens.

 

[Bill Matthews]

To Heartsizedfarm......Anyone can try all they want but NOBODY can make a hen go broody......When the hormone levels and the genetic trait for broodiness coincide the hen will go broody....Fake eggs and putting them in special places will not work........Reports of incidents where these efforts have worked are only COINCIDENCES...