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- #31
freemotion
Food Guru
I guess so! Are they big enough to not catch the attention of our local redtail hawks? That's why I don't have bantams.
The great broody experiment (new pics p 18)
- Thread starter freemotion
- Start date
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
My broody is an EE of some kind, maybe a cross. She is dark red with ear muffs and a beard, white legs and her eggs are just a pale buff. Inherited her from my sis because she is always broody. She doesn't lay steady either, so I was going to cull her. I decided to give her a chance as a mother, instead.
The last chicks she raised for my sis, she couldn't defend her chicks from the flock and they killed all but one. Of course, my sis isn't much of a flock manager and didn't isolate her and the chicks from her 50-odd free rangers.
She is really protecting her eggs from the mama hen....I went to check on them today and I found several white feathers on the floor....and mama ain't molting!
Free, Mama hen is a White Rock and she will be a year old in July. I don't think that breed is particularly broody natured. I guess it just depends on hormones, huh?
My New Hamp of the same age is still trying to go broody, but she just doesn't want to do it in the broody pen. I may see if she can do it in the main coop without losing her nest.
The last chicks she raised for my sis, she couldn't defend her chicks from the flock and they killed all but one. Of course, my sis isn't much of a flock manager and didn't isolate her and the chicks from her 50-odd free rangers.
She is really protecting her eggs from the mama hen....I went to check on them today and I found several white feathers on the floor....and mama ain't molting!
Free, Mama hen is a White Rock and she will be a year old in July. I don't think that breed is particularly broody natured. I guess it just depends on hormones, huh?
My New Hamp of the same age is still trying to go broody, but she just doesn't want to do it in the broody pen. I may see if she can do it in the main coop without losing her nest.
Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
Mine usually run and hide when they see any form of bird fly over, but I did have a hawk snatch up my favorite silkie roo, so no they aren't big enough not to catch attention.freemotion said:
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
We have a chick!!! 
The kids and I went to check the broody tonight just in case she had hatched one. There was a squeaky cheeping coming out of her box, so I pulled her off (risking vicious pecking) to take a look. There was a brand-new, still-wet baby chick! Mama hopped right back on to warm it up.
One egg had lots of shell missing but a completely intact membrane. Does anybody know what this means? I've never seen this process before...
The kids were SO excited!! I can't wait for all of us to get to watch her raise them. She's already acting like a good mama.
How is it going for all the rest of you?
ETA: 12 eggs are now down to 8. Does she cull the bad ones? Did she accidentally crack them and then eat them? Does anybody know why this would be?
The kids and I went to check the broody tonight just in case she had hatched one. There was a squeaky cheeping coming out of her box, so I pulled her off (risking vicious pecking) to take a look. There was a brand-new, still-wet baby chick! Mama hopped right back on to warm it up.
One egg had lots of shell missing but a completely intact membrane. Does anybody know what this means? I've never seen this process before...
The kids were SO excited!! I can't wait for all of us to get to watch her raise them. She's already acting like a good mama.
How is it going for all the rest of you?
ETA: 12 eggs are now down to 8. Does she cull the bad ones? Did she accidentally crack them and then eat them? Does anybody know why this would be?
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- #35
freemotion
Food Guru
Why can't one of my hens go broody!?!?!? A couple of nights ago, someone re-arranged six eggs in a nest to make an almost perfect "flower" with five eggs on their sides in a circle, all ends in the center, and the sixth egg balance in the middle standing up. If I hadn't seen it myself, I would never believe it. DH didn't beleive me, so I had to run out with the camera.I was hoping this meant someone was manipulating eggs, counting them, deciding if she should set for a while. Nope. Not yet. I pick up eggs every 4 days now so there will be plenty in the favorite nests.
The three guineas make it a group project for one of them to lay an egg in the hay storage area. There are three now, slightly buried with hay. Another guinea lays in the chicken coop.
I do NOT want more guineas! I want chickens and turkeys!
I need some chocolate and a hug.
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
Awww... That's too bad. It's small consolation, probably, but I used to have about 8 broody hens until I decided to let them hatch. Then, only 1 stayed broody and literally overnight all the rest stopped brooding!
I hope you get a broody before too long!
I hope you get a broody before too long!
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- #37
freemotion
Food Guru
My plan is to keep it up until about mid-May, then order some pullets to arrive in June. That is when the turkey toms will be leaving my brooding pen and entering my fridge. I want it warm so that the chicks can leave my house asap! I don't mind if they don't lay much until next spring. We spend very little on feeding the chickens here, got it down to a science now.
They ate a songbird today.....don't know who caught it. Eww!
They ate a songbird today.....don't know who caught it. Eww!
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Me&, I had the same thing happen and the folks on BYC said the hen knows if any eggs aren't fertilized or bad and will cull them out of the nest. Mine took hers completely out of the nest and placed them on the other side of the pen. Some were broken open and others merely cracked, but none eaten.me&thegals said:We have a chick!!!
The kids and I went to check the broody tonight just in case she had hatched one. There was a squeaky cheeping coming out of her box, so I pulled her off (risking vicious pecking) to take a look. There was a brand-new, still-wet baby chick! Mama hopped right back on to warm it up.
One egg had lots of shell missing but a completely intact membrane. Does anybody know what this means? I've never seen this process before...
The kids were SO excited!! I can't wait for all of us to get to watch her raise them. She's already acting like a good mama.
How is it going for all the rest of you?
ETA: 12 eggs are now down to 8. Does she cull the bad ones? Did she accidentally crack them and then eat them? Does anybody know why this would be?
This broody I have now had one broken with just the shells remaining and one had a chip out of it like a puncture from one of her claws....I removed these and haven't had any culls again. She took 10 eggs down to eight and then laid one more of her own to fill out the clutch. I'm hoping they all survive.
I just relocated another broody tonight and hope she will stay on the new nest. I've decided to let all broodies sit on eggs this year. If they can hatch them, I can either use them for replacement layers or for the freezer/canner. I want, as much as possible, to let nature take its course here and just watch it happen.
Maybe the reason so many breeds have had the broodiness "bred out of them" is because folks are just not letting them actually brood when they are supposed to. If one doesn't want the extra chickens, why not keep them to eat or to sell?
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
I think it's a fascinating subject regarding plants and animals. We choose a few desirable traits and breed them in or out accordingly. Then, we discover we really need that old, undesirable trait (like broodiness) after all! I used to be annoyed at broodiness. Now I'm thrilled! Can't wait to watch her raise them. I would really like to learn more about chicken breeding and starting replenishing that way. Hate to admit how much we will have spent on chicks this spring 
For example, regarding learning more about breeding, does a person have to be concerned much about inbreeding and tracking bloodlines with poultry?
Best of luck on your babies, Bee!
For example, regarding learning more about breeding, does a person have to be concerned much about inbreeding and tracking bloodlines with poultry?
Best of luck on your babies, Bee!
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- #40
freemotion
Food Guru
I think it has to do with most people not wanting the egg laying to stop while the hen broods. My dad says his mother would not allow any hen to go broody, and would break up the broodiness by hanging the hen in a wire-bottom cage for a few days. They always ordered their chicks. It was the modern way.
I bet people would cull persistant broody hens, too.
I bet people would cull persistant broody hens, too.
