Chicken bald back

[orchardchick48]

Hi,

 

I have two Gingernuts in an eglu go with large run and one of the hybrid hens is constantly broody. I was thinking of perhaps letting her pursue her instincts by getting some hatching eggs for her to sit on and rear.

 

I was thinking of bantam hatching eggs, so that we could keep two of them once hatched and have four hens in total.

 

My concerns would be:

- I have heard that its best to separate the mother hen from the the other hen with her chicks, but this would mean having one hen by herself which she wouldn't like.

- If the chicks are a different breed would there be more chance of rejection?

- I know that there is always a risk that a broody hen, may not turn out to be a good mother when the chicks are hatched

 

Any thoughts or experiences would be gratefully received.

 

thanks

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Guest

[sjp]

Hi,

 

I have two Gingernuts in an eglu go with large run and one of the hybrid hens is constantly broody. I was thinking of perhaps letting her pursue her instincts by getting some hatching eggs for her to sit on and rear.

 

I was thinking of bantam hatching eggs, so that we could keep two of them once hatched and have four hens in total.

 

My concerns would be:

- I have heard that its best to separate the mother hen from the flock with her chicks, but this would mean having one hen by herself which she wouldn't like. she'd only be on her own for 21 days while she's siting on the eggs.after that hopefully she gets chicks to mother. broodies are by nature anti social for most of this time and up to when the chicks are 5 or 6 weeks old through they do mellow after about 3 weeks. I start to free range my broodies with the rest of the mob once the chicks are 3-5 days old for the first week or so they don't go far from their 'home' any way I'm lucky through as my mob know not to mess with a broody with young chicks and nearly all of them were broody raised anyway

- If the chicks are a different breed would there be more chance of rejection? as long as she's hatched them then no

- I know that there is always a risk that a broody hen, may not turn out to be a good mother when the chicks are hatched I've not found this to be the case. normally the bad ones don't get as far as hatching out chicks they've either got bored or hated sitting on the eggs the first night most times because I moved them in the light and not after dark, or the little madam ate the eggs or was a clumsy sod who broke them

I put mine on lock down on day 18, 3 days before hatch and keep them on lock down for 24hrs after the last chick as hatched to bound with food (chick crumb) and water then they stay in the broody coop and run for 3 or 4 days before FR with the mob as and when. Mom stays with the chicks until she's had enough of them anywhere from 5 weeks to longest one was 14 weeks (age of chick/s)

Any thoughts or experiences would be gratefully received.

 

thanks

 

[orchardchick48]

Thanks for that useful info SJP, good to know the timings.

 

I was more concerned about the other hen that would be ostracised into a run/pen on it's own for over a month, (they are already "Ooops, word censored!"ed off with me confining them to the eglu run with the DEFRA warning ) I'm sure the broody sitter hen will be happy to be left alone.

 

Is the reason for confining/separating because the other hen might attack the baby chicks or because it will bother the broody hen, or the other way round?

 

I would love to leave them together, they are best friends and stick to each other like glue. I guess freerange farmyard hens just get on with it.

 

??

 

m

[sjp]

Thanks for that useful info SJP, good to know the timings.

 

I was more concerned about the other hen that would be ostracised into a run/pen on it's own for over a month, (they are already "Ooops, word censored!" off with me confining them to the eglu run with the DEFRA warning ) I'm sure the broody sitter hen will be happy to be left alone.

 

Is the reason for confining/separating because the other hen might attack the baby chicks or because it will bother the broody hen, or the other way round? a bit of both certainly a first timer needs the alone time but mainly because the broody is pre programed to defend the nest and then the chicks and all friendships go out of the window

but also the chicks need to be on chick crumb for about 6 weeks and then growers until about 18 weeks min.

 

I would love to leave them together, they are best friends and stick to each other like glue. I guess freerange farmyard hens just get on with it.it's the brooding of the eggs that they really need to be on their own for you don't want a non broody hen A laying more eggs in the nest and B turfing the broody out of the nest all the time or for a long time if you've got one that likes to sit in the nest for a couple of hours before laying. eggs can stand 20-30mins without the broody and do need this slight cooling

 

??

 

m

[orchardchick48]

Ok sjp I am getting the picture now.

 

I think maybe it might be a bit cruel to put them both through it. The non broody hen will tend to just lay the egg and go, she has been known to just drop one in the run if the broody one is intent on staying on the nest.

 

I think perhaps I am anthropomorphising a little and worrying that the broody one is feeling deprived of motherhood and is sad about it. She has always enjoyed sitting on eggs for a few hours and fussing around with nesting material etc. Perhaps the whole hatching chicks thing will stress her out and then the other one will be kicked out on her own which she will hate.

 

Is there an option of letting her sit on some dummy eggs, thus making it less of an issue if she gets off them for too long, then sticking some hatched chicks under her one night so she can get used to them? Or is that asking for trouble?

 

Think I am answering my own question here, the hatching thing might be a bit ambitious for a two hen backyard coup.

 

M

[sjp]

there is an option to give her chicks after a few days but it's a risk with an untried first time broody she might not accept them with as long as you have the kit to broody the chicks indoors for at least 6 weeks and the an outside coop and pen for to grow them on until they are about 18-21weeks old then that's not so bad worst case scenario is she kills them

you also need to think about what you'll do with any boys (which could be 100% of the hatch) with ever way you go if you do hatch or but chicks boys are dam near impossible to re-home unless they're from exceptional stock

very few breeds are sex-able at a day old

personally I grow my spares on for meat, I can't cull chicks even when I think I know which are boys which last year was a good thing because 2 I thought were boys turned out to be girls. down side is I have to keep them until they are about 26 weeks old and I've had them trying to crow at 6 weeks old