The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Scott H]

Quote:
And so much fun to watch!

 

[armorfirelady]

Scott I love the pictures. They are beautiful and I'm sure Momma is enjoying her chicks as well

 

[Jewelwing]

And so much fun to watch!

Are you going to keep them all? What if they turn out to be roosters?

I was thinking I'd buy some sexed day-old chicks & sneak them under her next year. I really only want hens.

 

[subhanalah]

It's been a while, so I'm sure I've missed a ton.  I've been super busy this summer, and being on this thread is addicting so I've steered clear.  But now I need some advice.

Of my eight hens, two of them have been broody for about 4 weeks.  I have no roosters, but I would like to raise baby chicks under a broody hen next year, so I didn't want to totally discourage one of them from being a good broody mom.  So I left the wooden egg under her and let her think she was doing all the right things.  The other one is neurotic, so I took the wooden egg out from under her and kept taking her off the nest several times every day for a few weeks, hoping she'd just give it up.

But she outlasted me, and I finally gave up taking the neurotic one off her nest, and now I'm letting them both sit on empty nests.  I had to put a plastic dog kennel in the coop, lined with nesting material, so the others would have a place to lay!  I only had three nests to begin with, which was enough for eight laying hens, but one nest is just not enough for six.  They do seem happy with two nests, though, and I usually get 4-6 eggs a day.

How long does this go on?  I don't really have a feasible way to separate a broody hen to discourage her, and I don't want to dunk them under water - it seems so drastic, and after four weeks, I'm not sure it would work.  I kind of thought that after 3-4  weeks of setting and no chicks, they would give up, especially with no eggs under them.

What should I do?  Is it possible to just wait them out, and if so, how long will that take?  If not, are they going to be broody until they die?

I kind of remember Scott having a broody hen for a long time, and I think she finally just stopped on her own.  Is that right?  That's what I was hoping would happen.

Also, I wonder if it's any coincidence that these two hens are at the bottom of the pecking order.  Would raising chicks give them more standing in the flock?  I've thought that maybe that's why they're doing it (not purposefully, of course, just that being low down might make their bodies more likely to go broody).

Suggestions?  Thoughts?

I think you need to buy 6 chick's and give each one three, they'll stop being broody and start laying for you when the chick's are weaned.
Or you can do the broody breaker. ..I don't like that idea though, hurts my feelings lol.

 

[Scott H]

 

And so much fun to watch!

Are you going to keep them all?  What if they turn out to be roosters?

I was thinking I'd buy some sexed day-old chicks & sneak them under her next year.  I really only want hens.

We are raising three pullets for a friend to start with chickens. We hope to get one hen out of the deal to replace Juanita who passed a couple of weeks ago. We have to get rid of the roosters. I will try to do so here. They are breeder quality. I think I've already spotted a little roo. He's a Blue Laced Red Black Wyandotte like the dark hen in the pictures.

 

[Jewelwing]

We are raising three pullets for a friend to start with chickens. We hope to get one hen out of the deal to replace Juanita who passed a couple of weeks ago. We have to get rid of the roosters. I will try to do so here. They are breeder quality. I think I've already spotted a little roo. He's a Blue Laced Red Black Wyandotte like the dark hen in the pictures.

That sounds like a good plan. I have no one to give roos to, and I don't have the heart to kill them, so I think I'm stuck buying sexed chicks.

I'm sorry about Juanita. How old was she?

I think you need to buy 6 chick's and give each one three, they'll stop being broody and start laying for you when the chick's are weaned.
Or you can do the broody breaker. ..I don't like that idea though, hurts my feelings lol.

I would do that, at least for one of them - I think the other would be a bad mother since she's a neurotic chicken - but I'm really not ready to have more chickens right now. Next spring I do plan to do that, so I hope one of them is broody again then! For now, I guess I'll just wait it out, because I don't want to do the "broody breaker" either. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me how to sort of nudge them back into regular flock life without too much fuss, but maybe that's not possible.

 

[Scott H]

I'm sorry about Juanita. How old was she?


About 17 months....she was the one that never layed but was a total character. We put one of those door screens that you can walk thru on the back door that opens up into the the den...took our cat a week to figure out that he could just push thru it to get in or out but Juanita was standing in the den the next day....and the next. Told our cat he wasn't a smart as a chicken. ;-D

 

[delisha]

Scott,
I'm sorry about Juanita




What is wrong with putting water outside?


As far as broody's. They will eventually give up. Right now you probably could break them pretty easy.

Take them outside of the comfort zone.

make a temporary fence area away from familure (sp) sights and sounds.(keep them safe)so do it on a full day you will be outdoors.
do not give them anything to hide in or set in. Make sure they have food, water, and shade. It works faster if you give them meat treats on and off all day and make them hunt.

 

[Shan30]

Hello everyone, I haven't posted in quite a while but have been lurking here and there

Thing are broody crazy at our place too. 28 broody hatched chicks so far and far more broody girls than the few we have allowed to hatch.

I have officially learned my lesson and will not be allowing two hens to set together again as I found that they had smothered two chicks last night when I came out this morning. I gave all the chicks to the one who seemed to be a better mother and chucked the other into the breeding pen with the other Ameraucanas. She is very unhappy right now but I didn't know what else to do. I don't really have a place to put her with her little family and since both dead chicks were under her, I'm rather suspicious.

Also thinking of selling off the Chanteclers. I don't know if its just mine but the hens are just mean. Constantly attacking chicks and basically any bird smaller than them. Anyone else have this breed? Are yours meanies too?

It's so nice to see some familiar faces (names I guess!) on the thread and hope that things are going well for everyone!

 

[MargaretYakoda]

What's the worst thing that could happen if a grown hen were to eat chick feed for a few weeks straight? Or maybe even a couple of months?

I made a creep feeder so our chicks can eat their feed in peace. So far it's working. But the JG chicks, who are just a bit over four weeks old, already find it to be a tight squeeze. And if I make it much larger our Bhrama Bantams will gladly squeeze through, bully the chicks, and hog all the feed.

Anyone got a solution? I mean, short of getting rid of the bantams. Which, I would consider, but only as a last resort.