The great broody experiment (new pics p 18)

[Beekissed]

Maybe a dab of BluKote or even stick on a round bandaid over the place so it won't be red and a target and slip her back at night like BBH suggested?

Don't want her away from mom too long or she may not want her back.

 

[freemotion]

Ha, I was actually contemplating gluing a feather on her back, kinda like hair club for chicks! I washed her again tonight, and the spot is getting less noticable....It was still bleeding yesterday when I first washed it. I think maybe one more day and I will slip her back under mom Wednesday night. She'll have to take her chances. I stuffed eggs under a broody because I did NOT want to take care of chicks....and I would have to snatch another, because I can't keep her alone for much longer.

I've been feeding her worms twice a day along with some ground grains, so she should smell right....

 

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Update: I fluffed up Ms Chicklet's back fluff last night and stuffed her under mama around 9pm. All was good this morning, and still fine a little while ago! Still have six healthy chicks!

It was SOOOO stinkin' cute to peek in there last night and see five little heads pop through mama's feathers to peek back at me in my little flashlight beam! Why don't I ever remember to bring the camera with me???

 

[big brown horse]

I'm sooo glad to hear it worked!!!

 

[Beekissed]

free, I love the head through the feathers thingy also! So glad your chick made it back in the nest. Isn't it so much easier to let a hen raise the chicks?

 

[freemotion]

Yes, mama should be doing all the work....especially with two cats and a dog in the house who thinks he is a mighty hunter!

 

[freemotion]

I had to update y'all....all six chicks are still alive and well, and today the oldest is three weeks old. In spite of many escapes....I finally saw one chick following a chipmunk under the fence, and the chippy had to struggle to get through....the chick just followed him, nice as can be, no struggle at all, little stinker!

Today when I went to let them out into the pen, there was a ruckus that got me running, lots of frantic cheeping and running around in the coop and scrabbling noises....I peeked in through the hardware cloth covered window, and saw mama hen chasing a chipmunk around and angrily pecking it, chicks all frantic on one end of the coop. Mama took the tail off that chippy in one peck....ew!

The chippy got caught in the netting that I used to temporarily separate the coop, the older poullets on one side, the broody and chicks on the other. Mama hen was going at him.....I wanted to rescue him, not sure why, just my own motherly instincts.....but he was not in a place that I could reach him without risking either stepping on a chick or getting bitten by the chippy. So I walked away and did some mowing for a couple of hours.

Came back, no sign of the chippy. Chicks were not frantically hungry for worms as they usually are. Lots of mama's feathers all over the coop. I think they ate the chippy!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Aww, poor little chippy!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Did you move her in the middle of the night? I now have a broody pen(not very big) in which I moved my last broody. I moved her in the middle of the night by covering her with a towel, putting her on the eggs in the new nest and then I covered the hole thing(a dog house) with a blanket. When I went out next morning about midmorning, she was very settled into her new home. I don't know how well it would have worked if she had been in the coop still.

Now, I'm going to try to establish three nest boxes in the broody pen and see if the mama and current babies will co-exist with two more broodies. Anyone ever try this?

Hi there!

I agree with Beekissed's advice about moving the broodie at night & with a cover.

Now as to having 3 mothers-to-be together in one brooding space:-
In my experience this is not a good idea as the broodies steal each other's eggs or try to all sit on the collected pile. The heat produced by 3 fluffed up broodies is too much & the eggs don't hatch. They also fight a lot & the eggs get broken. I think one hen in one space is the answer. They can be in the same building but need to be shut into their own space & let out separately for their time off the eggs every day.

Good luck! My Dorking hen hatched 5 Dorking chicks just over 4weeks ago -- all doing well ( 3girls & 2boys).


Hattie

 

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Another update: I noticed that mama hen is no longer calling her chicks to food, and they are often on opposite sides of the pen....then today I found an egg in the nest box! I have felt for about 3 days now that she wanted me to let her back in with the flock, but ignored her signals. Well, can't ignore an egg! So I think I will put her back in with the flock, but thought I would check with the experience ones here first. I will be leaving the chicks in the pen, since it is the only covered pen I have and we have redtail hawks here.

Also, my turkey hen has still not gone broody. I need to get in there and remove all her eggs, since I never marked them as planned. I just hope that doesn't make her abandon the nest box that I made and that she has been laying all her eggs in. I will likely move the turkeys once the chicks are bigger, and although I'm not sure where I want them ultimately, I think I want their space for another goat stall. Ginger is growing like a weed, and I suspect she will be plenty big enough to breed and will be 10 months old in January. Any thoughts on the turkeys? Should I give them another year, should I give up on this year, should I give up on them altogether? I don't really want to give up on them, but they are eating and pooping and not giving anything back. They have a home to go back to, with a full refund on their purchase price. But I'd rather have a few turkey poults to raise for the freezer!