The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Btrobe on June 23, 2010, 11:06:16 am
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I have been reading the topics on broody hens and hatching chicks - very interesting and helpful. It was only last year when Number 1 hen unexpectedly hatched 3 chicks. The problem is that 3 hens have been sitting on chicks - but not in the run. I have tried everything to confine them within our large garden - high fences, wing clipping etc. to no avail. 2 days ago, number 1 hen hatched 8 chicks in a neighbour's hedge 4 doors away. Luckily I discovered her when the chicks had just hatched and carefully got them and her in a cardboard box and took them to their new home - they are doing well. Hen number 2 is sitting on 16 eggs under a bush in our large garden and is due to hatch within the next week (I think). Number 3 is sitting on 11 on the garden wall (covered in ivy). A friend had a hen who was broody and it hatched 3 of our eggs but 2 of the chicks were killed by his other hens. Will the hens who hatch chicks kill other hen's chicks and will I need to separate them from each other as well as from the rest of the hens? Can anyone tell me? Also hen number 1 is the mother of the other 2 who are sitting. Also she is from the egg our neighbour hatched so that her father is our cockerell and he is the father and grandfather of the other hens who are sitting so he will be the father, grandfather and great-grandfather of the chicks if they hatch. I'm a bit worried about all of this incest. Will it make a difference? Any help would be welcome.
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I would be more concerned about what you are going to do with all these chicks than their lineage. Can't you stop the hens sitting on the eggs by removing them every day? I think you need to make/buy a restricted run area to stop them escaping as well. Sorry to be so blunt, but it seems to me that unless you have a market for mongrel chickens, many of which will be cockerels then you will have an even bigger problem on your hands.
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Thanks for that. I do realise the problem but I only found out where they were hatching last week. I live in a quite large country village so I hope that I will be able to give them away this time. Because of this experience, I think I will be able to identify broody hens now so I may be able to follow them if they escape and take their eggs before they hatch next time. We have a large sprawling garden and we do have an enclosed pen (about 1/8th of an acre) will 9 foot fencing. It's the old wall that they get over so I'll have to enclose it even further with chicken wire. The chicks are lovely. Because they have scratched up all the grass which was mainly moss, I like to let them out into the main garden for a few hours a day so that they can eat grass. Maybe I'm too soft with them and I will pay the price later.
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oh dear! you are going to have at least 50% of your hatched chicks as cockerels. you'll need to have a plan for dealing with them - we live in a small village too (17 houses) and have 2 cockerels - PLENTY of noise and not all the neighbours are delighted about it!
it is hard to keep track of them when they free range - we thought ours simply we're laying a couple of years ago and then found a clutch of 30 eggs one time - couldnt eat any of them cos we didnt know how long they'd been there!
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Thanks again. The only other thing I can do is to get rid of our cockerell but he is lovely and tame. He keeps the hens in order and it's more natural for them to have a man about the place.
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I think if you keep these chicks you will have a great choice of cockerel ;D ;D ;D ;D