Official Squatch Watchers

[getaclue]

Thank you for the information about bad moms. I was blessed. When one of the hens in my coop hatched out an egg (only 1 hatched) she was a great mom, but even better, all of her coop mates turned into great moms. All the hens actively took part in helping to raise the chick. No scuffles, nothing.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Sadly we had to remove the broodies from the coop with the chicks. One is a BC Maran and the other is a Wyandotte/Amerucana Olive egger. The broodies were making a horrible mess with the wood chips and they would cover the feed and water with chips within 30-60 min of us cleaning it up. So we decided to remove the wood chips and add hay to the floor. To do this we needed to move the broodies and the babies out. When we put them back, the OE was trying to kill the BCM. So we decided to move the OE out, at the same time, the BCM decided that she didn’t like the legbar pullets and started attacking them she also wasn’t nice to the other chicks the OE had, but she wasn’t horrible. So we put the OEs chicks plus the legbars in a bin inside the coop with a lid. My mom saw the BCM broody trying to attack the bin chick through the lid and she wasn’t always very nice to her own chicks. So we decided to remove her as well and just brood the chicks with brooder heat plates. Some of the chicks were really noisy for the first hour but they are now used to it and are fairly content. I’ll check on them tonight to make sure they all go under the plate. I think we upset the balance of things by moving them and having the broodies too close to each other is what made it not work.

I’m actually relieved. This will make it easier for me to add my Cornish chicks when they hatch in almost 2 weeks. I’ve done brooding situation with chicks as much as 4 weeks older than the youngest chicks and it worked well. Now I don’t have to set up a second brooder for the Cornish chicks. I’ll probably keep them in a brooder for at least 5-7 days after hatch so I can watch them and make sure they are doing well.

Oh, cute picture. My mom went out to check them earlier and heard peeping coming from the feeder. She found this chick inside the feeder looking rather miffed. This chick is named Fluff. Foster Son 1 named her. She has the fluffiest cheeks of all the chicks. I think she’s a lavender Amerucana.

 

[Molpet]

Sadly we had to remove the broodies from the coop with the chicks. One is a BC Maran and the other is a Wyandotte/Amerucana Olive egger. The broodies were making a horrible mess with the wood chips and they would cover the feed and water with chips within 30-60 min of us cleaning it up. So we decided to remove the wood chips and add hay to the floor. To do this we needed to move the broodies and the babies out. When we put them back, the OE was trying to kill the BCM. So we decided to move the OE out, at the same time, the BCM decided that she didn’t like the legbar pullets and started attacking them she also wasn’t nice to the other chicks the OE had, but she wasn’t horrible. So we put the OEs chicks plus the legbars in a bin inside the coop with a lid. My mom saw the BCM broody trying to attack the bin chick through the lid and she wasn’t always very nice to her own chicks. So we decided to remove her as well and just brood the chicks with brooder heat plates. Some of the chicks were really noisy for the first hour but they are now used to it and are fairly content. I’ll check on them tonight to make sure they all go under the plate. I think we upset the balance of things by moving them and having the broodies too close to each other is what made it not work.

I’m actually relieved. This will make it easier for me to add my Cornish chicks when they hatch in almost 2 weeks. I’ve done brooding situation with chicks as much as 4 weeks older than the youngest chicks and it worked well. Now I don’t have to set up a second brooder for the Cornish chicks. I’ll probably keep them in a brooder for at least 5-7 days after hatch so I can watch them and make sure they are doing well.

Oh, cute picture. My mom went out to check them earlier and heard peeping coming from the feeder. She found this chick inside the feeder looking rather miffed. This chick is named Fluff. Foster Son 1 named her. She has the fluffiest cheeks of all the chicks. I think she’s a lavender Amerucana.
View attachment 3836396

I put the feed and water up on bricks or something, but broodies can turn the whole place upside down in a heartbeat

 

[Redhead Rae]

I put the feed and water up on bricks or something, but broodies can turn the whole place upside down in a heartbeat

The waters were raised. They just heeped the chips 6 inches high all around the waterers.

Glad I doubled checked. ALL the chicks were piled up in the corner where one of the broodies would sit. Had to shove handfuls of chicks under the heater plate.