Consolidated Kansas

[zigzag45]

ZigZag are you looking for specific breed or large fowl at point of lay?

I'll PM you...

 

[HEChicken]

I have a question/favor to ask. I have a bantam light brahma hen, a year old, who has been broody for over a month. Her eggs were not fertile, so after the regular broody period I removed the eggs and replaced them with ping pong balls. But she won't give it up. I'm getting concerned about her health - she hardly leaves the nest at all, just a couple minutes to eat and drink and such, and then back she goes. I'm giving her bits of meat and vitamins. But still I'm concerned. So I'm wondering about the feasability of purchasing a day old chick and doing a switch for the ping pong balls during the night. Letting her have a chance at being "mom". I'm guessing that would end the broody. Has anyone tried this?

If it might work, I need a new hatched chick. Ideally it would be somewhere near me (66736) so it didn't need to be mailed. Especially as its getting cooler now.
So, if anyone in this area has some eggs about to hatch, write me and lets talk.
Thanks so much, Sara

I do this on a regular basis. This summer at one point I had about a dozen broodies all at the same time but I didn't want them hatching mutts so I incubated the eggs I wanted to hatch and as they hatched, I put them under broodies. I've honestly never had it not work although I've heard reports of hens rejecting the chicks. What I do is wait until after its dark and they're sleepy, then take the chicks and just slip them under the hen. I remove eggs daily so usually by night she's not sitting on anything, so I don't have to remove any, but that would be the time to remove the ping pong balls if you were going to. Usually they snuggle the chicks under them and start cooing immediately. They'll often continue to sit for another day or two because they know that the chicks don't need to eat/drink right away and that gives any unhatched eggs a chance to hatch. But, if there aren't any more eggs under her, I've also had them come off the nest the very next morning to show the chicks the food and water, so it is variable.

If I remember correctly you are out Fredonia way which is not that close to me (an hour and a half or so), but if you don't find any others locally, I have some hatching now (3 pipped as I speak that I expect will have hatched by morning) and I'll also have more hatching in a week and a half. But hopefully you can find some a little closer.....

 

[chicken danz]

Well let me know what you have age, kind, price and if you decide you what you want to sell my sister and niece have been to your place and mabey can convince my niece to bring them up for me on chicken transport Omg I forgot you had the speckled sussex hmmmm......

I have some lavenders, some pearl, and a few pieds. They are all young but have been outside for some time. II would guess 2-3 months old. I put a few eggs in the incubator a while back from the sussex. They free range so there is a chance that there could be a brahma Daddy in them here and there. I think I can tell the difference when they are hatched. I also have several pure sussex who's mother died from rooster injuries. Another hen took over them. They're probably 8 to 10 weeks old now.

Danz, I only raise India Blue peafowl but it could be that your peachick could be grieving. Have you maybe separated it from a pen mate? Over the years of raising peafowl I have known this to happen.

I don't know what happened to her. I went out to finish feeding and she had died while I was outside. She felt really really skinny. I had moved them to a pen 3-4 weeks ago and thought they were all doing fine. She had been picked on a little previously but once moved to the pen I saw no evidence of picking on her. I'm confused as to why she was so skinny. They eat tons as a group. I hadn't wormed them yet but have never seen any evidence of worms. I did treat them all topically with Ivermectin when I moved them to the pen to make sure they had no mites or anything. It breaks my heart because she was a gorgeous chick and one of two I have been sure were female so far.

Hi All - sorry to be missing in action for so long. Our move went "kind of " okay.
Mike's dad died the week we moved, and his mother (who has since been diagnosed with alzheimer's) was unable to live alone, so now lives with us. Its been a rather intense adjustment. With a bunch of other unforeseen problems.

At any rate, I have sixty some hens, the pullets had started laying well till season started to turn. Now the full growns (year olds) are molting, and the youngsters not laying as much. Still getting plenty for our use (we use a lot of eggs), but not to sell as I had hoped. I'm not going to use lights, even though I realize I might likely have eggs to sell that way. Just not what I want to do.

I have a question/favor to ask. I have a bantam light brahma hen, a year old, who has been broody for over a month. Her eggs were not fertile, so after the regular broody period I removed the eggs and replaced them with ping pong balls. But she won't give it up. I'm getting concerned about her health - she hardly leaves the nest at all, just a couple minutes to eat and drink and such, and then back she goes. I'm giving her bits of meat and vitamins. But still I'm concerned. So I'm wondering about the feasability of purchasing a day old chick and doing a switch for the ping pong balls during the night. Letting her have a chance at being "mom". I'm guessing that would end the broody. Has anyone tried this?

If it might work, I need a new hatched chick. Ideally it would be somewhere near me (66736) so it didn't need to be mailed. Especially as its getting cooler now.
So, if anyone in this area has some eggs about to hatch, write me and lets talk.
Thanks so much, Sara

You have been gone for awhile. Welcome back. I am closer to you and always have chicks hatching but some of the businesses will have fall chicks in soon. Putting the chick in should work. I have had a hen peck a chick once but that was a rarity. Most of them are happy to have one finally. Also if you had someone that had some eggs that were near hatching you could let her hatch the chick herself.

I do this on a regular basis. This summer at one point I had about a dozen broodies all at the same time but I didn't want them hatching mutts so I incubated the eggs I wanted to hatch and as they hatched, I put them under broodies. I've honestly never had it not work although I've heard reports of hens rejecting the chicks. What I do is wait until after its dark and they're sleepy, then take the chicks and just slip them under the hen. I remove eggs daily so usually by night she's not sitting on anything, so I don't have to remove any, but that would be the time to remove the ping pong balls if you were going to. Usually they snuggle the chicks under them and start cooing immediately. They'll often continue to sit for another day or two because they know that the chicks don't need to eat/drink right away and that gives any unhatched eggs a chance to hatch. But, if there aren't any more eggs under her, I've also had them come off the nest the very next morning to show the chicks the food and water, so it is variable.

If I remember correctly you are out Fredonia way which is not that close to me (an hour and a half or so), but if you don't find any others locally, I have some hatching now (3 pipped as I speak that I expect will have hatched by morning) and I'll also have more hatching in a week and a half. But hopefully you can find some a little closer.....

Well as stated above my peachick died. She was nice sized too. One of my first to hatch this year. It breaks my heart. I hate it when I don't understand what went wrong. I've had no sickness in my peachicks at all. The India blues are lovely but I wanted something different. I sure hope nothing happens to all the others.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz I'm so sorry about your peachick.

 

[sarajoy]

"I've honestly never had it not work although I've heard reports of hens rejecting the chicks. "

Oh, HeChicken - that is really great news. I'll look on our local creig's list and such and see if I can find someone closer. But sure hoping this might get her out of the nest!! Sara

 

[sarajoy]

Chickendanz - thank you for affirming what HeChicken had to say. I'm going to try to find a chick and/or close to hatching egg, and give this a try. I'll check out the stores and see when they are getting in fall chicks - haven't seen any ads for them. Will also try creig's list and such. But I'll ask you if I don't find something closer. it actually would be fun to get a chance to meet you! Sara

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Danz, so sorry about your peahen. I have the Pekings and Anconas. No Cayuga but would like some from you when you are up this way. I do need more female ducks though.

Good news on the 2 LGDs. I was brave enough to let them out of the garage with my DH around in case they decide to take off. They were quite unsure of what to do but did walk out of their home. They sniffed around, pay no attention to the birds at all. When I walk back to them, they just went back to the garage. I think this is great progress since they've only been with us for a week. I'll continue to work with them. Hopefully they will be able to stay out longer with supervision.

Have a great night.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Danz, sorry your peachick didn't survive. I still have my original male. He free ranges but stays mainly in a large open chicken yard where he can be close to food and water as he is blind. I began raising Peafowl quite by accident. In the spring of 1995 three full grown peahens decided they wanted to live here. I tried to find out who they belonged to, but all I found out was they were seen walking on the road past a neighbor's place, which is about a mile north and three miles east of my place. So after they had stayed around for several weeks I decided to get a male for them. I was told he was well over three years old when I got him. The last original hen disappeared this spring. As you said, India Blues are a hearty bird.

 

[zigzag45]

More and more questions.... I appreciate all the gracious answers.

We are now getting rain. My birds did such a great job of removing all semblance of grass from their 8x8 run. I have a bale of straw in the shed, should I spread that around in the run, in a small section of the run? They had been spending alot of time out in the yard until the past few days where they decided they'd like to sit on top of my chain-link fences. Now I have to figure out how to discourage that. Hence, they'll be more confined to the run for the time being.

 

[chicken danz]

SaraJoy it would be nice to meet you. We aren't quite as far apart as like google would indicate cause I live closer to Burlington than Waverly. Still it would be a road trip.
Tweety I'll send you a PM.
Glad the dogs are doing okay. It took about 2 weeks to get Britt acclimated to this place. I walked her for a week and then let her out little by little making sure she was shut up at night. Now she is used to my other dogs and the three are doing great together. She goes further out than they do which worries me a little but at least she knows where home is now.
Ralph I got my first pair at a similar price. I had an ex brother in law with a pair. My nephew would stomp on the eggs when he found them because he hated them. They roosted in the barn therefore pooped on the equipment. I got hold of my nephew and suggested instead of stomping on the eggs he let me have them and I would incubate them and give him half of what ever I got from the peachicks. As it turned out my ex brother in law was tired of them as well so he gave me his pair. Pete my male is at least 8 years old. I'm not sure how old the female is but she is younger. Maybe 5-6. I didn't think I would like them either because my only experience with them was at a zoo and they yelled non-stop. I do love them though. They are easy care and gorgeous. I keep mine penned because now that I have several colors I want to do specific breeding. They do take pen space. Also because I have so much money invested in my others I don't want to chance a predator getting them if they go wandering. The take a lot of pen space but they are much calmer now that I keep them penned. And they aren't noisy at all. A little yelling in the evening during breeding season or if there is a predator around but I don't mind it at all. I find it fun to listen to.
I'll try worming my babies now that it is cooler out. I had been keeping a big pan of water out there for them to stand in to keep cool. I can remove that now for at least a couple days. I can't imagine them having any thing like that because they were off the ground until I moved them to the big pen. But I can't figure out any thing else that would have caused this little peahen to be so skinny. They certainly aren't like chickens that you pick up and would notice that.
ZigZag the straw might help but I wouldn't spread it around.. They will certainly do that on their own. You have to be careful with straw cause it will mold if it gets wet and isn't kept aired out. If it were me I would just set a bale in there and let them sit on it. If you have a couple scraps of wood I would set it on them off the ground to keep it from getting wet. The only way I know of to discourage the birds from sitting on the fence would be to clip their wings. Or to give them other roosts in the yard they will find more appealing. Still that is no guarantee. Can you build them some wooden roosts under the shade of a tree? That might win them over.
We still haven't gotten rain but have almost heavy fog like mist in the air this morning. I guess it's better than nothing but we really need the rain. I would love to have a rainy day. I hate rainy weather but we need it and it's an excuse to spend more time inside. I really do need to do some catch up in here.