The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[midnightroo]

Aoxa, thanks for the sexing photos. Does that apply only for EE's or for all types!

 

[Shan30]

Just had a very weird and sad thing happen.

Our friend has a small flock with no roosters. Two of his hens went broody. As he gets only brown eggs he asked us for 3 blue and 3 white to put under them so he could tell them apart.

Sadly he came home one day this week to find both of the broodies dead in the coop but not on the eggs. No marks on them. Said they had looked pale but since they were less than a week off hatch day that didn't seem too strange. Even weirder... The blue eggs had turned brown.

Has anyone ever heard of this? Could they have caught something from our flock?

We have added new birds without them getting sick so I don't think it would be from ours. Poor things. I'll be bringing him some chicks once they hatch.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

? what can make meat birds tough .

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Broody hens. They're awesome. Do all the work for me, and better than an artificial hatcher healthwise. I assume you can't though or you probably would be... Shame, chicks and mothers are wonderful to watch.

Regarding weasels biting throats instead of eating flesh; old studies of the weasel family recorded some that would kill and store mice or whatever prey they found in abundance, killing and storing repeatedly until there was no prey left. They'd tuck them in special burrows. One killed over 50 mice in half an hour and put each one in its underground larder once dead. When food is in abundance they prefer to drink blood as it's one of the quickest and easiest meals available. When food is scarcer they eat flesh. Biting the throat was historically one of their favorite methods of killing as they have an instinct for the jugular like many predators. With chicks it's more likely they would bite off the heads.


Quote: Sounds like the banty has more filial instinct, as they always seem to. It sounds like it's adopted the light as its mother. My banties of all sorts have always been turbocharged little things, they come out of their eggs hungry and I'll find them on their mother's back within half an hour of hatching; the males especially will also, all within an hour of being hatched, pop their heads out from under the maternal fortress, eye the world skeptically, and give the alarm call when they see me approaching, without flinching or retreating. Hilarious to you hear a tiny chick making the rapid 'heads-up!' suspicious noise. They're quite bold and brave, too. Good clutchmates, they protect and teach the less instinctive ones, usually the larger fowl.

Quote: Good job! However I have found many of them do learn the difference. I've used some chook hens for turkeys only and some turkey hens for chooks only and most of them started to 'twig' to the difference after about the third time around. The mothers then became quite disinterested in the chicks, while still maintaining a very basic level of care, and abandoned them at very young ages to try to start a brood of their own kind. Side effects of breeding for more intelligence and instinct. I'm ok with that though. Some of the less smart hens still tend all the babies given.

Quote: Most of my hens moult around the same time, I'm wondering if it's a natural time to moult, since the babies are quickly growing out of need for snuggling and the mother is in the process of rebuilding what she lost brooding, and the colder seasons would be around the corner (if she's bred at the usual time) so she'd need to have a good and strong new coat. Just a theory.

Quote: Was he keeping an eye on the eggs? Is he sure the blues have in fact turned brown and not been eaten or stolen? Strange things happen, stranger things have happened around here.

Maybe the blue is only a 'bloom' on the shell, like some grapes have, rather than the shell's actual outer layer's color, in which case it could have rubbed off on the hen's bodies, particularly if the eggs got wet or the hens are acidic in ph due to pellet feeds or similar. I have had pink or pale whitish eggs get rubbed into reddish to dark brown ones during brooding. If you don't wash your eggs you could try with one to see if it's just the color rubbing off. Generally takes a slightly acidic liquid to wash bloom off though.

 

[salt and pepper]

I'm going to have to take care of someone Else's birds for the week... Any ideas on how to make sure my birds don't get infected with anything his have? I know they have a respiratory sickness, and something else too, I REALLY don't want my birds getting sick, anything I can do to keep the flocks separated?? Thanks!

 

[Shan30]

Interesting thoughts Chooks,

He was checking on them constantly (never hatched anything before) an is certain they are the same eggs. Said the brown was a bit different than his.

The PH thing might make sense.

Blue eggs are truly blue tho, it won't wash off as it is actually in the shell not on it.

The only possibility I can see is maybe his coop is infested with mites and these poor girls just got overloaded.

 

[uglychickens]

Broody hens. They're awesome. Do all the work for me, and better than an artificial hatcher healthwise. I assume you can't though or you probably would be... Shame, chicks and mothers are wonderful to watch.

Regarding weasels biting throats instead of eating flesh; old studies of the weasel family recorded some that would kill and store mice or whatever prey they found in abundance, killing and storing repeatedly until there was no prey left. They'd tuck them in special burrows. One killed over 50 mice in half an hour and put each one in its underground larder once dead. When food is in abundance they prefer to drink blood as it's one of the quickest and easiest meals available. When food is scarcer they eat flesh. Biting the throat was historically one of their favorite methods of killing as they have an instinct for the jugular like many predators. With chicks it's more likely they would bite off the heads.


Sounds like the banty has more filial instinct, as they always seem to. It sounds like it's adopted the light as its mother. My banties of all sorts have always been turbocharged little things, they come out of their eggs hungry and I'll find them on their mother's back within half an hour of hatching; the males especially will also, all within an hour of being hatched, pop their heads out from under the maternal fortress, eye the world skeptically, and give the alarm call when they see me approaching, without flinching or retreating. Hilarious to you hear a tiny chick making the rapid 'heads-up!' suspicious noise. They're quite bold and brave, too. Good clutchmates, they protect and teach the less instinctive ones, usually the larger fowl.

Good job! However I have found many of them do learn the difference. I've used some chook hens for turkeys only and some turkey hens for chooks only and most of them started to 'twig' to the difference after about the third time around. The mothers then became quite disinterested in the chicks, while still maintaining a very basic level of care, and abandoned them at very young ages to try to start a brood of their own kind. Side effects of breeding for more intelligence and instinct. I'm ok with that though. Some of the less smart hens still tend all the babies given.

Most of my hens moult around the same time, I'm wondering if it's a natural time to moult, since the babies are quickly growing out of need for snuggling and the mother is in the process of rebuilding what she lost brooding, and the colder seasons would be around the corner (if she's bred at the usual time) so she'd need to have a good and strong new coat. Just a theory.

Was he keeping an eye on the eggs? Is he sure the blues have in fact turned brown and not been eaten or stolen? Strange things happen, stranger things have happened around here.

Maybe the blue is only a 'bloom' on the shell, like some grapes have, rather than the shell's actual outer layer's color, in which case it could have rubbed off on the hen's bodies, particularly if the eggs got wet or the hens are acidic in ph due to pellet feeds or similar. I have had pink or pale whitish eggs get rubbed into reddish to dark brown ones during brooding. If you don't wash your eggs you could try with one to see if it's just the color rubbing off. Generally takes a slightly acidic liquid to wash bloom off though.

Someone stealing them and killing the hens to keep them quite was the first thing that popped into my mind too. Your right stranger things have happened... If pay real close attention to any neighbors flocks for a wail!

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa, thanks for the sexing photos. Does that apply only for EE's or for all types!

All types

Broody hens. They're awesome. Do all the work for me, and better than an artificial hatcher healthwise. I assume you can't though or you probably would be... Shame, chicks and mothers are wonderful to watch.

Yes I agree with the broody hens, unfortunately I only have two brooding silkies and they can not handle my rebuilding the flock. I have 67 chicks I'm growing out. All with EcoGlows, which is VERY similar to a broody hen for warmth. Way more natural than a heat lamp.

You don't get light, and it's heated with 18 watts. It is used radiantly. So it heats the chicks by them pressing against it like they would a broody hen (skin to skin contact) It's not skin obviously.. but it works very much like that. They go under it as needed.

I had so many broodies last year. Not as many as Stony, but I think I'd be a close second on this thread. I raised probably 75-100 chicks last year via broodies

 

[uglychickens]

What's the best kind of hen for going broody? I raise NN's and they are just not known for this but I want a broody hen to do the chick work for me... Any suggestions?

 

[aoxa]

What's the best kind of hen for going broody? I raise NN's and they are just not known for this but I want a broody hen to do the chick work for me... Any suggestions?

Many breeds will go broody.

Some serious broody breeds:

• Silkie
• Game Bantam (Old English)
• D'Uccle
• Sumatra
• Cochin
• Orpington

Among others.. those are just common.