The tiny serama; a Hatching adventure

[BackroadGirl57]

Some of my last hens I had before the raccoon ravage would dig a dust bowl and lay eggs in it, then hide them.

I too hope for more than 15 eggs. Right now, the weekly egg numbers just aren't enough for me to say that's possible. They've also got a bad habit of laying on the ground of their pen. The first, and very last group that'll do this. I'll be doing my usual system of placing nest boxes way earlier than needed

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Some of my last hens I had before the raccoon ravage would dig a dust bowl and lay eggs in it, then hide them.

Sorry to hear about your hens! The female chickens in my backyard flock lay in a hollow that is in the inside corner of the coop, but they cover the eggs up with dirt when they get done. I don't know if they do that intentionally or by mistake when they are climbing back out of the hollow.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

@fluffycrow Any advice on how to make broody females smarter? (Not a serious question, I'm joking.) I just had one of my Speckled Sussex pullets go broody on a nest hidden under a fallen log, and we had to break her because there is no way unfertilized eggs are going to hatch and she wasn't coming out to eat or drink and I didn't want her to starve. Turns out she was brooding on a few crushed eggshells and one rotten egg. Broodies are so weird!

 

[BDutch]

@fluffycrow Any advice on how to make broody females smarter? (Not a serious question, I'm joking.) I just had one of my Speckled Sussex pullets go broody on a nest hidden under a fallen log, and we had to break her because there is no way unfertilized eggs are going to hatch and she wasn't coming out to eat or drink and I didn't want her to starve. Turns out she was brooding on a few crushed eggshells and one rotten egg. Broodies are so weird!

Sorry I’m not Fluffy but I may have a few answers/tips for you.

Keep your older pullets and let them sit a few times before you give hatchery eggs to the younger pullets. The younger ones learn from the older hens.

Buy a few hens from a breed that is known to for its excellent mothers. Or try to buy one from a friend who claims he has an excellent broody.

 

[fluffycrow]

@BDutch gave an excellent reply, and has a lot more broody experience than me .


It takes practice to get a good broody! Even my star Cruella broke on her first try, and since I never saw her leaving the nest, I'm imagining it might've been because she was starving herself. Thankfully she's smart enough to not perish from starvation. Second time, she "forgot" to return to the nest after being bugged and slightly kicked out by her sister. Third time...well you know how excellent she was. From my very limited experiences, I believe that brooding is both innate and genetic, but good brooding is mostly a learnt behaviour, and slightly genetic

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Sorry I’m not Fluffy but I may have a few answers/tips for you.

Keep your older pullets and let them sit a few times before you give hatchery eggs to the younger pullets. The younger ones learn from the older hens.

Buy a few hens from a breed that is known to for its excellent mothers. Or try to buy one from a friend who claims he has an excellent broody.

@BDutch gave an excellent reply, and has a lot more broody experience than me .


It takes practice to get a good broody! Even my star Cruella broke on her first try, and since I never saw her leaving the nest, I'm imagining it might've been because she was starving herself. Thankfully she's smart enough to not perish from starvation. Second time, she "forgot" to return to the nest after being bugged and slightly kicked out by her sister. Third time...well you know how excellent she was. From my very limited experiences, I believe that brooding is both innate and genetic, but good brooding is mostly a learnt behaviour, and slightly genetic

The main issue I have is that I need some males that can actually breed. My Cochin Bantam cockerel tries to mate with the Polish pullets but he doesn't understand he is too short and he falls off their back; or, when he actually climbs up there correctly, he just stands on their back while they continue walking around and it is hilarious (but I wouldn't hatch eggs from him anyways, he has a deformed leg and I don't want those genes carrying on). Meanwhile, my Cochin/Ameraucana hybrid rooster I got specifically for fertilized eggs mates his hens sideways and he falls off, or he simply goes up behind a hen and scratches his foot against her back and makes her squat but does nothing else. My Old English Game Bantam mix rooster does breed correctly, but he barely ever decides to mate－which is kind of good because he only has two hens, but still. Oh, and then I have a Buff-Laced Polish cockerel who is locked up in a pen because he got so breeding-aggressive that he would try to mate any female in his sight almost non-stop to the point where he made one of them faint and then that is when he got permanent time-out.

My conclusion is that I can never get a normal flock in my lifetime.

 

[BackroadGirl57]

made one of them faint

a hen fainting would be.... a strange sight.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

a hen fainting would be.... a strange sight.

I actually thought she had died from some kind of sudden shock. I was relieved to see that she was still breathing.

 

[BDutch]

@BDutch gave an excellent reply, and has a lot more broody experience than me .

Thanks for the compliment but Im not that experienced. I only had broodies in 5 separate years. Sometimes 2 broodies on one nest or 2 simultaneous broodies on 2 nests next to each other.

This spring will be my 6th year of anxiously waiting for those very much wanted tiny fluffies. Never had a hatch this early in spring. And it’s a first time for Kraai (my new Avatar). I gave her 6 Sulmtaler eggs last Friday and so far she is very committed.

My Cochin Bantam cockerel tries to mate with the Polish pullets but he doesn't understand he is too short and he falls off their back; or, when he actually climbs up there correctly, he just stands on their back while they continue walking around and it is hilarious

had to laugh until the passage where you mention his handicap. .

Could you buy (or swop) one or two roosters who are more adequate for the Polish?
Or buy hatchery eggs. ?
Or let the ***** cockerel play with the Polish for an hour before roost time.

When his hormones cool down, he might become a good rooster after all.

Hens don’t have to mate daily to fertilise the eggs. The seed/cum stays in the hen for about two weeks.

 

[fluffycrow]

The main issue I have is that I need some males that can actually breed. My Cochin Bantam cockerel tries to mate with the Polish pullets but he doesn't understand he is too short and he falls off their back; or, when he actually climbs up there correctly, he just stands on their back while they continue walking around and it is hilarious (but I wouldn't hatch eggs from him anyways, he has a deformed leg and I don't want those genes carrying on). Meanwhile, my Cochin/Ameraucana hybrid rooster I got specifically for fertilized eggs mates his hens sideways and he falls off, or he simply goes up behind a hen and scratches his foot against her back and makes her squat but does nothing else. My Old English Game Bantam mix rooster does breed correctly, but he barely ever decides to mate－which is kind of good because he only has two hens, but still. Oh, and then I have a Buff-Laced Polish cockerel who is locked up in a pen because he got so breeding-aggressive that he would try to mate any female in his sight almost non-stop to the point where he made one of them faint and then that is when he got permanent time-out.

My conclusion is that I can never get a normal flock in my lifetime.

That's very odd behaviour, I have to say. That's why I try to have males that are of similar breed and temperament to my females, because I know the effects of a "miss matched" pairing (some of you might recall the Tsouloufati and Big Red incident). If that's not possible, I'd let the extremely amorous male breed some of the birds only under supervision, and then let Casper full time with the girls you've selected for him. He has to start breeding at some point!