rugger
Amethyst
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Post by rugger on Jun 10, 2021 8:52:06 GMT -6
Turns out that long egg was a double-yolker! And it was delicious.
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Speedy
Sapphire
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Post by Speedy on Jun 10, 2021 10:21:02 GMT -6
Turns out that long egg was a double-yolker! And it was delicious. too cool!
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tj
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Chickens!
Jun 10, 2021 10:46:53 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Jun 10, 2021 10:46:53 GMT -6
Turns out that long egg was a double-yolker! And it was delicious. We have one chicken that lays “twins” at least once a week. So cool!
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Post by violajack on Jun 19, 2021 18:41:51 GMT -6
One of our hens is broody. We don't *need* more chickens, so I couldn't justify putting a batch in the incubator. But I'm not going to say no to a hen that wants babies. I'm curious to see how this plays out.
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tj
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Jun 19, 2021 18:55:03 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Jun 19, 2021 18:55:03 GMT -6
One of our hens is broody. We don't *need* more chickens, so I couldn't justify putting a batch in the incubator. But I'm not going to say no to a hen that wants babies. I'm curious to see how this plays out. Really? Let me know what happens. We have a couple different hens that go broody. But I always assumed our roo or aggressive females would prevent a successful raising of chicks. No?
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Post by violajack on Jun 19, 2021 19:01:48 GMT -6
We had our coop designed with a ground level next box, specifically to accomodate this eventuality. I think the broody hen is on the lower end of the pecking order, as she always roosts the farthest from the rooster, but she's also one of our biggest. But I've read that they defend their chicks pretty sternly and the others catch on quick. I hope so. This is the first one we've ever had go broody, so I really have no idea how this works aside from reading about it. I just don't want her to abandon the eggs and have half developed eggs to deal with. I suppose we can throw them in the incubator if she quits on us. But today is day 1, so 20 more to go? The quail only take 16-17 days. This is going to feel like forever.
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Jun 20, 2021 8:33:55 GMT -6
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Post by niko8083 on Jun 20, 2021 8:33:55 GMT -6
I’m interested to see how it goes for you. I’ve thought about getting hatching eggs to have one of our hens do the work but, we don’t need anymore chickens yet.
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Post by violajack on Jun 28, 2021 18:02:55 GMT -6
Broody update Day 10. She's committed. I managed to catch her off the nest a few times to mark the eggs. She had 13, but a few eggs broke under her and I had to clear out some that were just too gross. I managed to shine my cell phone flashlight through a few this morning while she was up and another, smaller chicken, was on the eggs in her place. I removed one infertile but a few others definitely had stuff going on. I can't tell with just my cell phone light if anything is alive, just if something I developing vs nothing at all. I think she'll have a few babies. She has maybe 9 eggs still.
I took some feed out to hand feed the chickens this evening and Leonard totally shoved his way in and vacuumed up pellets from the patio. Silly pig. It's payback for chickens stealing his food in the morning.
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Post by violajack on Jul 2, 2021 14:14:23 GMT -6
Day 14 for our broody. I should mention her name is Surprise, so it's appropriate that she's the one sitting on eggs. Surprise! You're going to have babies.
I finally put on my big girl panties and processed 14 quail for the weekend's festivities. I kept 7 hens and a roo, but with 200 eggs sitting on our counter I think we're good on making more. So now, I'm firing up the incubator.
7 days to chicken babies, 17 days to quail babies.
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Post by violajack on Jul 6, 2021 11:12:53 GMT -6
Day 18 update: some happy/sad news. I was out yesterday and missed when Surprise was off the nest and figured it would be okay to let any extra eggs go an extra day. I was wrong! She was off around lunchtime today, so I checked and found a squished egg along with the 8 extras she hoarded. It was a very well developed chick, consistent with 18 days of development. So, sad that we lost one, but happy that it seems that things are where they should be. She now has 8 eggs and a fresh nest pad. I really need to hit up tractor supply and get some chick starter. And game bird starter since we have quail going now too.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 6, 2021 11:48:36 GMT -6
We had heat-related casualties, which is such a bummer, but they were older hens. Six chicks are still with us, and one is still kind lamely hobbling around. I make sure she has a chance to eat and drink water every time I'm out there - every day I think, "Oh she looks pathetic, perhaps tonight we will have to make a choice about her" and then that night she always looks much better.
The heat is hard (we are getting a lot of 90+ degree F days, when our summer norm isn't usually quite so high... must adjust for the inevitable future).
I've set up a new, larger shade structure, and they now have four different water options in the run.
So far, the chicks all look like ladies. Fingers crossed!
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Post by violajack on Jul 10, 2021 10:52:43 GMT -6
We had 4 late term loses over the past few days. We kept finding squished eggs with fully developed dead chicks. I think the other hens keep trying to push into her corner of the nest box and things got trampled. But, she just had her first successful hatch this morning and we got to watch. She looked kind of shocked when a baby chick came out of the egg, but she shoved it back under her. Two more eggs have pipped and I can hear the chicks chirping in them. The other two eggs don't seem to be doing anything yet.
We also have a fledgling robin in the brooder box because my husband found it on the ground and picked it up to keep it from the cats. We couldn't find the nest and one of its legs doesn't work, so we brought it in. I've been feeding it game bird starter mixed with water into a paste. It's hilarious as it tips it head back and opens wide. I wish it would figure out how to eat on its own. I'd put it in with the quail if it would. But for now, we'll feed it until it can fly. It's significantly more feathered after just two days, so it may just be a week or so. Which it needs to be since we have quail set to hatch next weekend that will need the brooder. I can candle them today to see how many are developing.
There's a whole lot of bird drama going on around here.
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rugger
Amethyst
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Post by rugger on Jul 10, 2021 18:08:54 GMT -6
All four ladies have officially started laying! Inconsistently, still, but exciting none the less 😄
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Post by violajack on Jul 11, 2021 5:07:13 GMT -6
We have two chicks now. The first one is a fluffy little clone of mama birb.
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Post by violajack on Jul 12, 2021 17:28:54 GMT -6
Surprise took her chicks on an adventure to Leanord's house today. They all love scratching in the hay he kicks out. The two chicks she hatched are two days old and today she abandoned the rest of the eggs. Another chicken got to one of them, I guess. I found the nest with one egg picked to bits and the chick just laying there. I took the whole thing in to check on the other two and they were also late quitters, fully developed, but never absorbed their yolks. So, for those of you keeping score at home, she started with 14 eggs. One was squished and contaminated another one to the point where I pulled that one out too. Three were infertile when I was able to candle at 10 days. That left her 9 to sit. At day 18, we found a cracked shell with the chick still alive, so I threw it in the incubator. Same with another one on day 19. They both died. Those were sad ones because they were alive, but there's no real way to save them if the shell is cracked through the membrane. We had two or three more I found dead in squished shells in the nest. I don't know if we have an egg eater who was going after them or if it was just damage from aggressive hoarding. I caught one chicken basically trying to burrow under her to steal eggs. We put a divider into the nest box and I gave the other hen a golf ball to sit on and she finally left Surprise alone. I'm not sure if that adds up, but she has two living chicks. Which, honestly, is a perfect amount of new chickens to add, assuming they're hens. I really hope they're hens because I want to keep them.
In conclusion, this is definitely not a good way to get more birds. The hatch rate was abysmal. But, they will require basically zero extra effort from me from here on out. We got some chick starter feed and put it near the nest box, so they can eat that if they want. But Surprise is already taking them out on foraging adventures. There is no brooder to clean and no heat lamp to worry about. It's beyond adorable to watch them pop out from under her and follow her around. The losses were sad, but I would definitely let her do this again next year if she wants.
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Post by violajack on Jul 13, 2021 9:03:24 GMT -6
Surprise and her babies out for an adventure.
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Post by violajack on Jul 24, 2021 10:44:25 GMT -6
Letting a hen raise baby chicks is so easy and fun. I love watching Surprise take her babies around and teach them how to chicken. This is so much better than chicks in a brooder. 10/10, would recommend.
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rugger
Amethyst
Posts: 5,768 Likes: 14,536
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Post by rugger on Jul 24, 2021 21:15:36 GMT -6
Letting a hen raise baby chicks is so easy and fun. I love watching Surprise take her babies around and teach them how to chicken. This is so much better than chicks in a brooder. 10/10, would recommend. So fun! I told S that if one of our hens gets broody, we'll stick a fertilized egg or day-old chick under her and let her become a Mama.
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Post by violajack on Jul 30, 2021 16:55:46 GMT -6
The babies are almost 3 weeks old now and definitely changing shape. They stand taller and have lots of wing feathers. Surprise is taking them on farther adventures, though she still keeps them closer to home than the full flock ranges, and they're starting to mix in with the flock more and more. Tonight, they mixed in and tried to grab some food during my evening hand feeding. But I still sometimes see them just hanging out under Surprise's wings. It's so cool watching a chicken raise her chicks.
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Chickens!
Jul 31, 2021 16:20:17 GMT -6
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Post by niko8083 on Jul 31, 2021 16:20:17 GMT -6
I really want to try this sometime. I’ve read that chicks raised by a hen aren’t as human friendly as they would be if raised in a brooder. Any thoughts? Does she let you handle the chicks?
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Post by violajack on Aug 1, 2021 15:14:54 GMT -6
I really want to try this sometime. I’ve read that chicks raised by a hen aren’t as human friendly as they would be if raised in a brooder. Any thoughts? Does she let you handle the chicks? They're definitely more skittish. She's okay with us handling them, but they're hard to catch. At this point, we pretty much have to wait until she's snuggling with them in the nest box. She doesn't love it when we grab one and definitely shoots us the stink eye, but she doesn't peck or anything like that. But, the babies are starting to hang out with the big chicks when I go to hand feed everyone in the evenings. Most of the big chickens come right up and eat out of my hand, so I'm hopeful that when the babies are big enough to hold their own around the big chickens, they'll come up too. They're just too little now and keep getting pushed out of the way. On a related note, I spent some time holding pellets up to see who would be willing to jump for them because a chicken hop is about the most ridiculous thing ever and now one of the reds runs right up to me and hops while I'm still trying to dig out a handful of food. She's associated the hop with getting food and it is so amazing and ridiculous and I love it so much. 11/10 recommend training your chickens to hop.
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rugger
Amethyst
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Post by rugger on Aug 13, 2021 21:24:38 GMT -6
Snowy Cluckers
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Speedy
Sapphire
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Post by Speedy on Aug 13, 2021 23:23:02 GMT -6
Pedro Beakster, reporting for duty!
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Chickens!
Aug 14, 2021 6:49:07 GMT -6
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Post by niko8083 on Aug 14, 2021 6:49:07 GMT -6
Cluckers Beakster
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tj
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Aug 14, 2021 7:06:15 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Aug 14, 2021 7:06:15 GMT -6
Bertha Eggsitter. Sounds about right.
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Post by violajack on Aug 14, 2021 9:36:07 GMT -6
Gretel Fluffybutt
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tj
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Aug 14, 2021 11:48:10 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Aug 14, 2021 11:48:10 GMT -6
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Post by violajack on Aug 14, 2021 12:01:05 GMT -6
I mean, its not wrong....
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tj
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Aug 14, 2021 19:15:39 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Aug 14, 2021 19:15:39 GMT -6
Dadgum it. Shyla killed another chicken. 😡
Looked like she was trying to play with it and got out of control. And for this reason, I can never let her with loose bunnies no matter how hard she works. That drive is just too strong.
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tj
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Sept 8, 2021 16:43:51 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Sept 8, 2021 16:43:51 GMT -6
Dadgum it. Shyla killed another chicken. 😡 Looked like she was trying to play with it and got out of control. And for this reason, I can never let her with loose bunnies no matter how hard she works. That drive is just too strong. And another. The girls’ favorite chicken. I really don’t like that dog. Is it wrong to see if she can be rehomed to someone who hunts and and doesn’t have kids or other pets? I know that pets are a commitment and not a toy. And I have always truly believed in working hard to make pet relationships work. But I think we are all just miserable. I don’t think it is fair to her. And yet I know it would crush the girls.
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