Update on broody bad mom

[gemmat820]

After taking the fertile eggs out of the nest and putting them in neighbors incubator they hatched within a few days. These are our new little chicks. One of the four we took her did not survive hatching. Out of the three that were left with broody, one died after being kicked out of the nest and being too early to be broken out, one was killed in the nest by the mother and I just found the third one on the coop floor after being kicked out.

It turns out that she is just a terrible mother. And the eggs she was sitting on weren't even hers. She's a Rhode Island Red and the chicks are clearly astralorps. Just thought I'd share the mixed news. We're just happy we saved some of them. In the meantime I just got my own incubator. They were on clearance at TSC so I got a reasonably nice one for only fifty dollars.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[cavemanrich]

Not all chickens make good Broody moms.
If you want to keep raising chicks, it is fine to incubate them.. Then offer them to a GOOD BROODY. Cochins and Silkies are at the top of that list.
This way, after chicks hatch, the good broody raises and cares for the little ones.
Many peeps, will purchase day old chicks from feed store, and place them under good broody hens. Much less work for you.
Of course your system needs to be correctly set up for such ventures. Separation from rest of possible aggressive chickens, until chicks grow to good size,, is important consideration.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Debbie292d]

Bad mothers is why I won't let my silkies hatch anymore. I got tired of raising their babies so they could go back and be broody again. They're great moms for the first month, but it's rough when they're used to free-ranging, then abandoned by their mom, and no longer allowed in the coop. She won't defend them anymore once she's abandoned them.

We built a temp coop for them and the next two batches and then said no more. We gave up and bought a nice used incubator, and hubby built two nice brooders. That was a few years ago and it's been going great ever since.

Glad you got an incubator!

 

[The Birb King]

View attachment 3881493

After taking the fertile eggs out of the nest and putting them in neighbors incubator they hatched within a few days. These are our new little chicks. One of the four we took her did not survive hatching. Out of the three that were left with broody, one died after being kicked out of the nest and being too early to be broken out, one was killed in the nest by the mother and I just found the third one on the coop floor after being kicked out.

It turns out that she is just a terrible mother. And the eggs she was sitting on weren't even hers. She's a Rhode Island Red and the chicks are clearly astralorps. Just thought I'd share the mixed news. We're just happy we saved some of them. In the meantime I just got my own incubator. They were on clearance at TSC so I got a reasonably nice one for only fifty dollars.

Thanks for all the advice!

Rhode island reds are known to be aggressive so its not very surprising she would be a bad mom. I had the same thing happen a few months ago with one of my Serama hens. She hatched 3 and killed one so I had to take the others away

 

[NatJ]

And the eggs she was sitting on weren't even hers. She's a Rhode Island Red and the chicks are clearly astralorps.

What rooster would be the father?
If the father is a Black Australorp, chicks would look the same from a Rhode Island Red mother or from a Black Australorp mother or from mothers of quite a few other breeds.

 

[gemmat820]

Not all chickens make good Broody moms.
If you want to keep raising chicks, it is fine to incubate them.. Then offer them to a GOOD BROODY. Cochins and Silkies are at the top of that list.
This way, after chicks hatch, the good broody raises and cares for the little ones.
Many peeps, will purchase day old chicks from feed store, and place them under good broody hens. Much less work for you.
Of course your system needs to be correctly set up for such ventures. Separation from rest of possible aggressive chickens, until chicks grow to good size,, is important consideration.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

For now we're just keeping them in a nursery until they're old enough to join the flock. The newer ducks have finally been accepted recently so I don't want to destabilize the environment by trying to add chicks especially with an overly aggressive rooster who may be leaving us if he attacks me again.

The incubator eggs I just started mat or may not hatch since I didn't properly set the cycle. We'll see how they fair. I'm also giving BBM one more chance with her the eggs before I break her broodiness.

Thanks for the help!

 

[gemmat820]

Bad mothers is why I won't let my silkies hatch anymore. I got tired of raising their babies so they could go back and be broody again. They're great moms for the first month, but it's rough when they're used to free-ranging, then abandoned by their mom, and no longer allowed in the coop. She won't defend them anymore once she's abandoned them.

We built a temp coop for them and the next two batches and then said no more. We gave up and bought a nice used incubator, and hubby built two nice brooders. That was a few years ago and it's been going great ever since.

Glad you got an incubator!

For sure. I don't have much more patience for her and if she does it again I will break her broodiness for sure. Thanks for all the help! I'm not sure if I'm in it for chicks long term. I'm not sure if there's much point to it aside from not having to buy chicks from the grain store but it's fun for now at least.

 

[gemmat820]

Rhode island reds are known to be aggressive so its not very surprising she would be a bad mom. I had the same thing happen a few months ago with one of my Serama hens. She hatched 3 and killed one so I had to take the others away

Yeah that's sad. And honestly it explains why one of my roosters is a jerk. He's also a Rhode Island Red. So is the other one but he's fairly calm. Ours ended up being about half and half all together but so far all the chicks were someone else's babies.

 

[gemmat820]

What rooster would be the father?
If the father is a Black Australorp, chicks would look the same from a Rhode Island Red mother or from a Black Australorp mother or from mothers of quite a few other breeds.

We know for sure our two roosters are Rhode Island reds. We have a variety of mother hens but the ones I know for sure is the Astralorp and the Rhode Island Red.

 

[FrostRanger]

Oof, Rhode island red roosters (well the hatchery quality ones at least) are often regarded as some of the most human aggression roos. The hatchery ones really have been overbred with not enough regard for temperment