The chicken saga continues…..

When I last wrote about the chickens, I told you of my failed effort to have a broody hen do the work of hatching and raising chicks for me.  You may recall that the first broody chicken gave me a good effort, but failed in the end, and my second broody hen rejected my suggestions to brood in the duck house, or, as a second best option, in an improvised nest box in the cat carrier on the floor in the chicken coop.  I did not want the hens to raise chicks in the nest boxes, as prior experience had taught me that was not a safe option for the chicks.   Once it was clear that I was not going to win that battle of wills with my second broody hen, I decided to move forward with human chick rearing.  I set up a large box in the garage, with a warming light, and picked up 10 chicks at Tractor Supply.  

That night, as I put the hens to bed, I contemplated my stubborn broody girl, sitting patiently on no eggs in her nest box in the chicken house.  Would she abandon her stubbornness when faced with chicks?   And could I test that out without endangering the chicks?  I decided to give her one last try. I again set up a nest of fresh straw in the duck house, this time in the corner, abandoning the cat carrier, which this hen had clearly rejected, even in the safety of the chicken house   I waited until well after dark.  Around 11 pm, I moved the broody hen to the nest in the duck house.   She stayed.   I went to bed, setting my alarm for 1 am.   At 1, the hen was still on the nest where I had put her.  I brought the chicks from the garage, and carefully slide one of them under her.  She fluffed her feathers, and peered under her wing.  After 10 quiet minutes, I slowly added the rest of the chicks, and settled down on a upside down bucket to watch.  Thirty minutes later, the hen was still sitting quietly, with all the chicks safely underneath her.  All good so far.   I went back to bed for a bit. Between 3 and 4 am, the hen was still sitting on the chicks.  Realizing that darkness might be helping to discourage my brooder from leaving the nest, I again set my alarm, this time for 6 am, so I could be there when it started to get light.   As the light increased, the hen peered under her feathers a number of times, but stayed on the nest.   I stayed with her until the sun was up. She remained with the chicks.  Success!?  Maybe, I had actually won the battle of wills!

I slipped quietly out of the duck house and went about my morning chores.  After finishing up and dropping the goats off at their outdoor enclosure I peeked into the duck house to see how the new family was doing.  Not so well.  The chicks were running around on the floor and “mama” hen was pacing nervously, ignoring them.  As I opened the door wider, on my way in to see if I could remedy the situation, the hen made a mad dash for the door, evaded my attempt to grab her and escaped into the yard.   So much for success!  With a sigh, I closed the door behind me, gathered up all the chicks, and returned them to their box under the warming lamp in the garage.  

I left my broody hen to wander the yard until I opened up the chicken yard at midday for everyone to free range.   At least, I thought, now she will stop brooding.  After all, peeping chicks underneath a hen are supposed to break a brood.  That afternoon, when I went into the coop to collect eggs, there she was back in the nest box, on eggs provided by the other hens.  I threw her outside.   That evening, at the nightly chicken head count, there she was, stubbornly back in the nest box, with no eggs at all.   I put her up on a roost.   The next morning… well you guessed it… back in the nest box.   At this point, she had been sitting broody for about a week.   Deciding to respect her commitment to brood in the nest box, I gave her one freshly laid egg, with the ceramic eggs to keep it company, and told her to give it her best shot.  Everything I had read said that hens generally give up a brood around day 21, the length of time it takes to hatch and egg, and then give it up.  Since she had already been at it for 7, there was a good chance she would give up in two weeks, in which case, only one egg/chick had been lost.  And if she unexpectedly sat on the egg for the whole 21 days, she could hatch one chick, which I thought she could keep safe.   

Well, let me tell you.  That hen was committed.  She sat on that egg for 21 days, then 22, and 23.  At that point, it was obvious to me (but not her) that the egg was not going to hatch.   I tried throwing her out of the hen house to be with the other chickens.  She returned to the nest boxes.  I put her up on the roost at night.  She returned to the nest boxes.  On day 24, I started calling Tractor Supply looking for very young chicks.  Finally, on day 26 new chicks arrived.  I had planned to get just one chick, but because I had noticed that the chickens seem to group themselves with their nest mates, I decided to risk 2, so the new chicks would have each other as companions.   This time I did not wait until the middle of the night.  I need my beauty sleep! Plus, I had been looking under the hen daily for a week, to see if her egg had hatched. At this point, she would think nothing of me putting my hand under her and I could slip in the chicks.  I armed myself with a trip to the bathroom and a folding stool, prepared to sit with her as long as it took to determine if she would protect the chicks.   

Well, I have to tell you, it was pretty amazing.  As I walked into the chicken house carrying the chick carrier with two loudly peeping chicks, she erupted from her nest box, puffed herself up into full “defending mother” mode, and started running frantically up and down the landing board looking for chicks in the nest boxes.   I quickly slipped both chicks into a nest box, scooped her up, and put her in with them.   She immediately covered them, and settled down.  When a chick popped its head out, she tucked it back under with her beak.  After a little while I started leaving.  First 5 minutes, then 10, then 20. I returned each time to find her sitting quietly on the chicks.   So far so good.  Yeah, you say, you said that before…  Plus, I still did not like having the chicks in the raised nest boxes, where they could become separated from mama and killed by the other hens if they fell or jumped out.   I closed up the coop so we would not have other chickens visiting, and put mama and the chicks down on the floor.  The chicks ran into the space under the nest boxes.   I waited for mom to join them, but she returned to the nest box, clucking anxiously at the chicks.   Not wanting to endanger their new bonding, I gave up and put the chicks back with her.  I built a little ramp that, in principle, would allow the chicks to climb back up to the nest box.  But could they would figure out how to use it in time?   Through the rest of the afternoon, and evening, and into the next morning, I checked on them intermittently.  All was well. I finally left to go for a run.  When I returned Gary commented that the chickens seemed unusually noisy.  Oh no, I thought, heading right into the coop.  One chick peeped anxiously from under the nest boxes.   Mama clucked angrily at the other hens from the landing board, but as had happened last year, would not leave the chick who was still with her.   I scooped the remaining chick out of the nest box, and mama hen followed promptly, and hurried under the nest box to join the crying chick on the floor.  I gave her the second chick, and she tucked both under her and settled protectively over them.   YAY!!!! For more than a day after helping mom get the babies situated under the next boxes, I didn’t see the chicks but finally this evening I saw them briefly exploring under the nest boxes before disappearing under mom again.  I hope she keeps them there for another few days before she tries to bring them out into the yard. They are awfully small!!!!

In contrast, the “Becky raised” chicks are getting big, and are now living in the duck house and exploring the duck house’s fenced yard during the day.