Using a Broody Hen

One of the most wonderful things to have in a flock is a good broody hen- at least to those who want to raise chicks naturally. They can be used for the whole process, part, or just to raise the chicks. I'll try to share a few insights about properly using this natural wonder.

Broody hens can be hard to come by. When a hen goes broody, she quits laying eggs, because she goes into "the broody zone". It's an almost trance-like state, and it gets deeper each day she's broody. (Note: if you DON'T want your hen to be broody, break her of it in the first couple days you see the signs, or it will probably be a lost cause.) Because they don't lay eggs during this time, hatcheries don't like broodiness in their stock, and will breed the trait out of even the heritage breeds. If you end up with a good broody, I highly recommend keeping her.

Some hens will go broody without any incentive. Even if you keep your nest boxes empty, some hens will start to sit on nothing. Keep an eye out, because other hens love to lay under her- that's nature telling them this is the spot their babies can be raised! And wear gloves when checking under the hen- some hens can deliver painful pecks/bites when they are defending their nests.

But you don't have to wait for nature. If you want to see if you can get a hen to go broody for you, try placing a group of golf balls in one of your nests. The basic idea is to make it look like a clutch of eggs. If you have a hen with any tendency toward being a mother, this should work after a while. I had a hen go broody on me, and she sat on the nest for 30 days. I finally broke her of it. One month later, I desperately needed a mother for some chicks I was getting ready to hatch. So I did the golf ball trick, and within a couple days, the same hen was on the nest. She made the best mother when I introduced "her" babies- but more on that in a minute.

The next trick is not to rush things if you can help it. Some hens will go broody for a few days, then get up and leave. The last thing you want are some semi developed eggs that are worthless for anything except the trash. A hen gets more and more in the "broody zone" as the days go by, but the amazing thing is there is no alarm for an ending day. I've had hens sit on a nest for over 4 weeks waiting for something to happen. So don't worry about letting 4-5 days go by to make sure the hen is really "in the zone" before giving her your hatching eggs.

If you have an extra place to put her, it is also a good idea to move a broody hen to a private location prior to giving her the eggs. I have several small coops, and once I have an established broody, I put her by herself. This eliminates needing to check if other hens have laid eggs under her, and keeps the babies safer once they hatch. By moving her prior to giving her eggs, I make sure she is willing to remain broody in the new nest. It also makes it less likely that other hens will follow her example- most people don't need more than one broody at a time! If you have no where to put the broody, I'd have to wonder if you have a safe place to keep chicks anyway. Young chicks are always safer in their own environment, with or without a mother hen. If you can't put her by herself, make sure you label the eggs you want her to hatch (I use marker and pencil, and mark the egg on every side) so that you can remove fresh eggs laid by other hens each day.

One of my favorite methods is to hatch chicks in the incubator, then place them under a broody hen. I've done this with several different hens, and never had any reject the chicks. (Timing is important to succeed- I usually give her the first chicks/pipped eggs right at dusk when she's headed into sleepy mode; I also tuck them in far under her- even doing it from behind- to make sure she doesn't peck the baby to death in the first moments of this new feeling.) Provided the hen is in the "broody zone" it doesn't even have to have been very many days before you give her chicks. One hen had been broody for about 10 days when I placed some eggs that were pipped and some newly hatched chicks under her. I continued to take new chicks to her as they would hatch for a couple days- just what happens in nature- and she took them all.

It also works to do it part way. If you have eggs in the incubator, and then a hen goes broody, follow the above steps, and then simply give her the eggs. She'll take it from there.

The only drawback I've had with using a broody is the number of eggs you can hatch. For a family project or backyard production, they are great. A good size hen can easily hatch 10 eggs, and if you are giving her chicks from an incubator, she can probably care for almost double that provided it's not too cold. But if you are wanting to hatch a lot of chicks, you'll have to go for an incubator- or induce more than one hen to be broody :).

I want to state that in my personal experience hatch rate percentage skyrockets when a broody hen is used. Not to say all eggs hatch, but the natural way tends to produce much better results.

Personally, I love not having to worry about my heat lamp going out and chilling the chicks, or starting the coop on fire if I didn't secure it properly (never happened to me but my mind thinks about it); I don't have to worry about a chick not eating or drinking- mama takes care of training them. And when you let them out to be with the big group at a few weeks old, they'll have a protector to take care of them.

Chicken Feed...the natural way

Chickens love to spend their days pecking and scratching. They root around on the ground, ingesting anything they find edible. The trouble is- as with most animals- we've made things convenient for ourselves, but not necessarily natural or healthy for the chickens. Natural feeding is much more work than just picking up a sack of feed and putting it in a feeder. But it is also pleasant to see the results.

As far as nutrition, most pre-mixed (bagged) feeds contain large quantities of soy (for protein), wheat, and corn. This includes, unfortunately, most organic feeds as well. After discovering this, I determined to do something better for my chickens. I now hand mix a grain selection that includes 12-16 varieties of organic grains. I developed the proper formulation on my own, and my chickens love it. They lay better when fed this blend, too. And I don't put it in a feeder- I throw it out on the ground, where my chickens happily spend hours pecking up every last grain in a completely natural manner that is instinctual.

Here is my feed recipe for those who want it:

Product/Pounds

Chicken Wheat	12
Oat Groats	8
Corn (optional in winter)	0.5
Barley	4
Rye	0.5
Buckwheat	2
Millet	0.5
Lentils	0.5
Field Peas	8
Green Split Peas	1
Flax	0.5
Sunflower Seeds	0.25
Alfalfa	1
Kelp Granules	0.25
Oyster/Crab Shell	free feed, not in mix

I usually mix a large amount- in the right percentages- in a tote. Then each day I take the amount to be given and soak it for 24 hours in a bucket of water. At the cost of organic grain, I want the chickens to enjoy every nutritional benefit from it, and by soaking it I break down the protective coatings so many seeds have on them and enable my chickens to digest a larger portion of it.

I do keep the organic bagged feed available in feeders, and occasionally when the storms are raging in winter, I let that be the only feed my chickens get. But when I do, I find my egg production declines after a couple days. As a side not, this could be partly caused by the fact that my whole grain mix has a large percentage of oats, while bagged mixes have more corn. I've read that corn reduces egg production, while oats encourage it. That could be the reason I see such results.

I don't know the whole nutritional composition of my feed blend. I do know that my feed blend has 18-20% protein. I like a high protein feed for all my chickens, whether they are laying, molting, broody, chicks, growing, or roosters. I have seen nothing but good results, probably because my protein comes from many different grains and not just soy. With so many grain varieties, I'm not worried about my chickens getting enough nutrition!

Picking Your Chicken Breed- Color Technicalities

If you want a backyard flock for eggs, meat, and the fun of watching chickens, pick any colors that suit your fancy and let them run together. But if you are looking at raising a pure strain of chickens, keep the following in mind: Chickens of different colors have to be treated as separate breeds.

Here's an example situation to show how it goes: You've done a little research and decided you like Rhode Island Reds, Light Sussex, and Wyandottes.
     Now, Rhode Island Reds only come in one color, so breeding them won't be a problem; you'll just have to do the normal culling to keep color and type going according to SOP.
     The Light Sussex aren't a problem either, because in picking that breed, you've already made the color selection- that's right, Sussex is the breed, Light is the color.
     Ah, but the Wyandottes- they come in eight colors that are recognized by the APA, as well as other colors that you can't show. If these were a dog breed, you'd just get any colors you like, breed them together, and the chicks would be different accepted colors. (Example: if I bred a fawn Boxer to a brindle Boxer, I would end up with puppies of both colors, but all puppies would be an acceptable color for the breed standard.) But in chickens, if you cross colors you could end up with some pretty wild ones, and they certainly wouldn't conform to the breed standard! So in your quest, you not only need to pick Wyandottes, but Gold Laced Wyandottes or Partridge Wyandottes, etc.

Isn't a Chicken Just a Chicken?

When I first saw the chickens at the feed store, I wondered what the name on each box meant. Leghorn, Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Wyandotte. At that time, a chicken was just a chicken and I had NO IDEA that the world is full of chicken breeds.

Before getting your chickens, sit down and give it a moment’s thought. What is it you want from your flock? Eggs? Meat? Both? Just beauty? Then search online; study some breeds on a superficial level. You’ll never be an expert on all of them, but just glancing at pictures and a quick read of their temperament and use will give you a start. Determine what you want to look at when you see your flock. As you study the breeds some things to consider are:

1)    body type

2)  size

3)  temperament

4)  color

5)   type of tail

6)  type of comb

7)   special feathering on legs, head, etc  

You can even go further. Do you want to raise chickens? If so, do you want to breed something super rare or help save a breed from extinction, or help better a common breed?

It might sound daunting, but it’s really quite fun, and doesn’t take as long as it seems. Here’s how the above played out for me:

I knew right away that I wanted breeds that would produce lots of eggs and enough meat for a decent meal. Those desires fit right in with my liking for the round, chunky birds (rather than the strictly egg-laying breeds like the Leghorn). So I focused in on breeds like the Wyandotte and Plymouth Rock. Even better, I also liked the calm, quiet temperament of these breeds over the flighty lighter birds. An additional factor that narrowed my choices was that I didn’t want special feathering on the legs or head.

Color was harder to narrow, and since it is basically like a breed (more on this in another post), I was only down to about 20 different color breeds. Compared to all the birds out there, that wasn't much but it was way more than I would be able to raise. 
After more study, more color eliminations from photos, and a decision that I liked shorter tails, I ordered from a place that had a large selection, getting 2-3 of each kind I thought I was interested in. That enabled me to see the temperament of several different breeds, their size and egg-laying capacity, and the color in real life instead of a photo. I now know that I love the laced breeds, and am planning to work with Gold and Silver Laced Wyandottes, Barnevelders, and a project bird which will basically be a Double Silver Laced Wyandotte.

So that’s an idea how to go about picking your chickens. It’s certainly what worked for me. Chickens can be around for years, and it’s worth a certain amount of effort to find the right ones for you.

Happy hunting!

So...you want to get more chicks?

When I bought my first chicks, they were from the local feed store at the end of the “chick season”. I rushed over there because I was told it was the last day to buy chicks. Well…that was a while ago, and boy have I learned a lot!

Looking into the process, I quickly discovered that I could place a private order from the same hatcheries the feed stores buy through at almost any time of year. Then I discovered that it gets even more delightful- I could buy from small breeders who care very much about their flocks, and keep their breeds up to standard.

Most people’s complaint with small breeders is that they sell straight run- in other words, you can’t order all pullets, you’re going to get a certain number of cockerels, too. For my dollar, that’s a bonus. Cockerels can make great 4-H birds, they can be grown to 20 weeks (or older if you want) and humanely butchered for a tasty meal, but most importantly, you know that the supplier is not chopping up little chicks in a grinder. These people care about their birds.

Shipping fear is a common thing. People who’ve never ordered wonder how such a thing can go smoothly. But those chicks at the feed store were shipped in, too. Most good breeders offer a live arrival guarantee. I’ve had three batches of chicks come in so far; all survived in two of them, and I lost three from the third, but the breeder sent 4 extra so I was covered.

Here’s how it works. After finding your breeder and choosing your breed/s, you place your order, often months in advance. Expect to pay when you place the order, not when the chicks are shipped. Then you wait through the long months, and receive confirmation that they’ve shipped. The tracking number lets you know if they are on time, and you pick them up at the Post Office, usually verifying with an employee that all are alive. You rush your fluffballs home to a brooder- a box, a tote (my favorite), or anything large enough that they can have a place very warmed by the heat lamp and a place to get away from the heat if they choose, a clean water provider and food bowl. That’s all there is to it.

Can Several Roosters Run with the Same Flock?

I have been running across this question several times as I search various sites, and the answer is YES. But there are factors that can help make it work out well. I'd like to share with you the tips I've picked up after having a total of 21 roosters in and out of my flock.

To make it work, your most important consideration is timing. Growing cockerels up together is a great way to have them get along. They will establish dominance early, and even when removed from each other for a few days, when placed back together the skirmishes are quickly over or don’t occur.

It is also important to release new cockerels into the flock at the right age. They have to be big and fast enough to get away from aggressive flock-mates (I have never found this to be the roosters, just the hens!), but not old enough to be full-fledged cocks themselves. I recently introduced a group of 4 month old chicks- including 3 cockerels- to the flock, and all went very smoothly. All 3 of my large roosters paid no attention to them at all. My little Dorking cockerel actually worships one of my Bielefelder roosters and stays by him constantly. That’s good- my Bielefelder is a perfect “gentleman” to humans and his ladies, so I’m thrilled if the Dorking wants to be like him; don’t laugh- I’ve read that young cockerels will imitate what they see the older roosters doing.

I’ve also just started letting a group of 12 week old Barnevelders- a group that has 6 cockerels- run around as well. The very first day, one of my Biele roos took them in his charge and watched over them during their first hours out of the coop.

Finally, don’t be too quick to step in to a fight. When my Bieles were setting up their pecking order, they leaped in the air and pummeled each other. I watched to make sure things didn’t go too far, but after a few attacks, and a little bit of blood on the combs, the winner and loser were established and they’ve been peacefully co-existing.

Every rooster is different, and some may never get along with other roosters. But I believe most can be trained to do so provided:

1)     they grow up with other cocks

2)     new cocks are introduced at a young age

3)     there is enough space for escape should it be necessary

The Best Coop

...is a simple coop, easily cleaned and easily maintained. Beauty is nice if you have the time and money, but it isn't essential for chickens. Our home had one coop when we moved in, but I quickly needed another one. There was a three-sided lean-to, so we simply slapped up an oxboard wall and had another coop in a day. We kept the inside simple, too. Roost bars and nesting boxes. In the photos you will see wires, which is where I hang the feed and water during the winter. In warm weather, I feed them in a shady, breezy building area so they will be more comfortable.

Let me give you an example of beauty not always being best. As I researched online about roosts, I loved the photos of neat stair-step roost bars. They were so artistic. But then I read about the arguing that goes on among the chickens for the top bar- and decided that, though not beautiful, a flat roost area with no top bar would be in the best interest of my flock. Keep in mind when building for chickens that their welfare is top priority, not an artistic masterpiece.

Roost bars are important. They need to be spaced far enough apart so chickens can sit on each bar and not push each other off. Since I raise Bielefelders, Wyandottes, and other large breeds, my hope was to give them plenty of room, so I spaced mine at 18". (Believe it or not, the roost bars are still almost too close!) And don't worry- smaller breeds don't mind the extra space, either. I built my roost bars 36" off the ground, which isn't all that high. But for some of the big breeds, that can be quite the hop to get to bed! 2 x 4s- with the narrow end up- made building it easy, and the chickens must find them comfortable since they willingly go to bed on them even before the sun sets!

One rule to remember: nesting boxes should always be lower than the roost bars to discourage overnight visits.

Nesting boxes should be big enough for your hens. Not so large that they don't feel secure, but big enough that they can comfortably turn around and lay facing anyway they please. I built mine 15" all directions, and even my largest hens fit. But my smaller Leghorns love it too. I also kept mine fairly close to the ground- remember, the tops need to be lower than the roost bars- and they all seem to enjoy them.

Here are a few photos of the "old coop". It has a run which is entirely enclosed with chicken wire, and we call it the chick area, because this is where all our chicks grow out, at least for the first couple months.

After ordering chicks in May, and again in July, I realized I was going to need a third coop area, because the May chicks weren't big enough to go with the adult chickens, and they were too big to put the July chicks with. So...we built a divider.

As you can see, the nest boxes are quite a bit higher than in the new coop, and have a bar in front of them to allow the hens to walk in and out of the boxes instead of flying up to them and risking already laid eggs. They are also 12", so on the smaller size. Never build your nest boxes smaller than this.