The great broody experiment (new pics p 18)

[Blackbird]

Found another broody today with 5 babies! Honestly, I don't even recognize this hen, its that bad..

I caught the babies to put in the shed but the mother is a complete nut and I cannot catch her. I put the babies in the brooder box in the shed anyway, but now I can't find their dipnut mother so I'm hoping she possibly went back to a nest where, for all I know, she could have other eggs waiting to hatch. That way I can steal more babies from her later =P

We have one other broody on a mass of eggs, some she can't even fit under her, so hopefully we'll get a few out of that bunch. The other broody we have has been sitting on a beautiful pile of nothing for weeks, but egg sale demands are piling in so we haven't been giving her anything..

Maybe she'll take care of the duckling that hatched the other day?

 

[freemotion]

This year's broody is a White Rock hen, from a group of six Rocks given to me last spring. She went broody on a golf ball, like Dominique-ah did last spring....no way I am ever getting rid of those golf balls! She went broody just over three weeks ago, about the time that I was so preoccupied with Ginger's softening ligaments and Peach's birth. So I never took the time to write about it.

She went broody in an upper nest box, one that the hens rarely use. So I left her there, and stuffed the nest with 18 of the cleanest eggs, loading it with as many blue eggs as I could. She stayed in that box for 20 days, and I ended up having to bring food to her twice a day because the guinea cock would target her when she came off the nest at feeding time. She would run around clucking her odd broody cluck, holding her wings slightly open, and waddling around. Being white already made her a target. Doing this funky dance tripled it.

I suddenly realized that she was due to hatch those eggs out and in a panic, dh and I lined the bottom of the brooder coop (aka buck box) with hardware cloth to protect the chicks from the rat population. I put in a nest box made from two cardboard boxes nested inside each other for strength, and scattered last year's lawn hay over the bottom of the coop and into the nest box. I transferred all the eggs and then the hen when I went out at midnight for Plum's bottle. There were 19 eggs, so someone snuck an egg in at one point. I really, really need to start marking eggs!

I checked her in about a half hour and she was sitting just outside the nest. The eggs were cool. I stuck her back in and set the box so that the opening was against a wall so she couldn't get out.

In the morning, I let her out for a bit, then put her back in. She stayed, so I left her for a couple of hours. Later, when I was walking near the coop, I heard her funny broody-walk clucking and knew she was off the nest again....she was. The eggs were quite cold, and 21 days old! I caught her up and again imprisoned her in the box. I figured the eggs were lost. I left for the day to go to work.

When I got home, she'd hatched out five chicks! A few hours later, two more. This morning, there were nine, and tonight, ten, with no more pips. She is reliably on the nest now. I spent some time digging worms for her, poor, undernourished, exhausted girl. She gobbled about a half-cup of worms (is that considered one serving? ) and then started feeding them to her chicklets! Good mama!

I will leave the rest of the eggs under her until she abandons them. Ten is a happy number!

Pictures later!

 

[freemotion]

She's still sitting this morning, and I offered her some sprouted barley in my hand. This hen has never hissed or pecked at me this entire time....never even gave me a dirty look! My father took care of a neighbor's flock of White Rock hens for a few days last year, and the neighbor showed him where he kept the leather gloves for getting eggs from under a hen. My dad thought he was being a wimp, and went in without the gloves. First hen pecked him so hard he got a blood blister. He wore the gloves after that.

I had an epiphany this morning, an ah-ha moment....ok, a DUH moment, really. I had been reluctantly mixing some soy meal into my home-ground grains to up the protein in my chick starter, but as I fed the sprouted barley to the hen and she tried to get her chicklets to eat some...it dawned on me....I will dry some sprouted barley so I can grind it and safely leave it for the chicks free choice. That should take care of their protein requirments, since sprouted barley has a VERY high protein content.

I only used about 3 quarts of ground grains for the last 6 chicks until they could handle the whole grains, so it is doable. I will likely use far less per chick now, since it is spring and there are lots of worms and bugs available and fresh greens. The last six, raised by the turkey hen, were hatched in the winter.

 

[freemotion]

I've been so busy with the baby goats and the pigs that I never updated this! So here is a run-down of what's been happening and what works.

Of the ten she hatched, nine are still alive and thriving and 18 days old today. I did dry a cookie sheet of sprouted barley and ground it coarsely, but there was not much interest...they just want worms, worms, and more worms! So I go in once or twice a day with my spading fork and carefully turn the dirt in the pen, breaking up the clods and exposing all the grubs and worms. I do this until the rush is no longer quite so frantic, then the hen can find enough on her own for the rest of the day to fill their needs.

I still have half that ground barley. I recently coarsely cracked some corn in the VitaMix, and offer a handful or two in the evening. I do need to get them eating something for when I don't have time to dig, or when it is really hot and dry and the worms are hiding too deep for easy access. They also started eating some sprouted whole barley with their mama at about day 10. They are far from being able to eat whole feed corn yet, though.

I just put a small handful down on the ground, and only give them another if they finish that. It is rare that I put more than two small handfuls....less than a cup for a hen and nine growing chicks. A hen alone will eat an average of a half cup a day, so she must really be doing her job quite well.

I also put lawn clippings on the dug areas of the pen, and dig them in as I dig for more worms. This attracts the worms and feeds them so they can produce more chick food.

I am working them towards being fed in the same way I feed my flock....sprouted barley in the morning and whole corn in the afternoon, free-ranging the rest of the day.

I had a Buff Orpington hen go broody on a golf ball a few days ago....what is it with the golf balls??? They are worth their weight in gold! Once I determined that she was willing to sit awhile, I created a space for her in the small hoop house within the broody pen. She is in a cardboard nest box and currently sits on 17 eggs. I will stuff a few more in later today as the other hens provide them. The hoop house protects her and the other broody from each other, and hopefully, by the time she hatches, I can put the others in with the flock.

In spite of our hawk problem, I do want to see if hen-raised chicks will survive in my pasture. I expect to see some losses, but....need to know. The whole idea is to do things as naturally as possible and with as little work for me as possible. This may or may not be one of those things, but I have to try it in order to know. I was not going to risk this brood unless I had another coming along, so.....!

 

[freemotion]

A few pictures of the broodies and chicklets!

Setting eggs is serious business! (I just noticed what box she is in! I hope she can't read!)

Some still-damp hatchlings and some pipping eggs:

Mama and her brood, teaching them to free-range (because it's free!)

The Buff on her golf ball, before I moved her:

 

[TanksHill]

Dang Free, what else do you have going on???

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I must get golfballs...

Nice looking chickens!

 

[freemotion]

I made another three cups or so of cracked corn for the chicks, and still have most of it. They started eating whole corn about three or four days ago. I put a little out for mama each day, and she would pick it up and put it down in front of her chicks to tell them it was good to eat. They would run around with it in their beaks and make valiant attempts to choke it down, all in vain.

Then suddenly, one day, they were eating the smaller pieces. Within three days, they were eating all but the largest kernels. This all happened just as they were turning three weeks old....barley by ten days old, whole corn by three weeks. Yippee!

My other broody hen, the Buff, has not come out of that nest box since she started setting those eggs. She has 21 eggs under her. She has not pooped in almost a week, unless she is soiling her nest. I will probably lift her out carefully tonight to check on things, tomorrow if it is raining tonight. I bring her a handful of food once or twice a day, and she eats from my hand from her nest. Since the little hoop house is made from a scrap of woven wire horse fencing with 2x4" openings, the other hen's chicks come and go at will and pick up whatever the Buff drops. Their mama pecks at my knees, demanding that I feed her brood and not the Buff! She never pecked me when she was setting eggs, but now nails me consistantly when I feed the Buff. Silly hen.

She is a great mama, though. She still has all nine chicks, all are healthy and vigorous. She has earned a pass from ever going to freezer camp....she will have a job here as long as she wants it.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

If you are feeding your broody corn I doubt she is pooping on her eggs but she might do an almighty great poop over you as you move her tonight -- SO BEWARE..................!!!!

I always feed my broody hens ONLY mixed corn & water while they sit. The eggs are always pristine. I also have had broodies who never leave their eggs. There are those who would have my arm off if I went near them to lift them off; usually my White Plymouth Rocks (mine are bantams but so fierce).

Good Luck ! Lovely photos!

Hattie

 

[ksalvagno]

Adorable chicks. Do you have to separate the hen and chicks from the rest of the chickens or can you leave them with everyone?