AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Well, not quite how, but I'll explain!

I have a silky and a wyandotte who take turns in the broody stakes....and we would like to raise some chicks of our own. My friend has a silky rooster that I could borrow, but heres where the fun starts So? Do I seperate the silky and leave them to it? How do I know if ïts"happening? Will he be at her all the time and also how long do these things take...(they are both over a year old)

OR do I just but fertile eggs for her and if so how many for a silky?

With the silver lace, I would love some Arcurunas so can I get her to sit on these with no worries?

Also, once hatched will mums care be enough? I take it I wont need lights etc, But how do you make sure Mum gets the right food and the babies get the right food? Also how long does Mum stay with them and then how do you introduce them to the rest of the flock?

Thanks in advance, I did say it was an idiots guide

Ok first thing is first do your hens remain broody for a set period or do they give up? True broody hens sit tight and "growl" at you when you approach and sometimes peck you when you try to retrieve eggs from under them. Before you bother getting fertile eggs to set you need to know you have a broody that will stay the distance.

If you go the fertile egg route then I would get no more than 6 for each especially if you are expecting them to care for the chicks. Always have a back up plan for the chicks ie a brooder you can set up as some hens make great broodies but awful mums. You will need to separate the new hatchlings and their respective mums, they need chick starter, it does not matter if the mother hen eats the chick starter as well but you don't want your egg layers eating it as it contains medication especially designed for the chicks to prevent cocci.

The time they stay with the mothers depends on you really, if she's a good mum then you can let them stay with her until they are fully feathered up and independant of her ie not needing her for warmth anymore then you can put her and them into the general population, just be aware that the remaining hens may give her a bit of a hard time as they would have restructured their pecking order with her being gone.

As far as borrowing a rooster goes yes you'll have to separate the silky from the other hen otherwise you'll end up with silky crosses, he will get to work so to speak pretty well straight away. If you watch them for a little while you will certainly know that they are mating. You won't need to keep him more than a week I would think as long as she goes broody fairly soon after her eggs will still be fertile.

Chooks don't mind what eggs they sit on when they are truely broody, I have some that have sat on and hatched out ducklings, and I have chooks at present incubating turkey eggs, they take them all at face value ie an egg is an egg.

Just remember things can and do go wrong just be as prepared as you can and good luck.

Thanks Sebducks

Yeah my Wyandotte gets pretty knarly when she is broody and if you manage to get her off the nest she just collapses in a heap and spreads out and refuses to move, Then when you go, she runs squawking back to the nest lol!

So now I guess its a case of choosing the Mum, first in best dressed I think