Here's a weird one .. Chicks and Ducklings ..

[soveryapt]

Right, so, a bit of a weird one to be posting on EduGeek, but hey, some of the stuff that get's discussed on here, I thought heck why not.

 

So, I live out in the sticks a bit and we have various animals around the place, some of which are chickens and ducks.

 

Now, we have boy ones too, so we currently have babies about the place (all together now .. awwwww). the ducks seem to be coping fine, a bit clumsy from time to time, but generally, it's all good. Chickens, well they just seem to be clumsy all the time and having big spikey feet instead of the slightly less dangerous webbed feet, I'm wondering, what do we do, let nature take its course and leave all the hens together with the chicks and let the cock stay around too (he's called Travolta because he's white and struts everywhere) or should we shut off the mother hens with the chicks for a while?

 

Last year one of our hens sat on some eggs, they hatched, but there weren't any survivors, 2 disappeared (we suspect a rodent of some description) and the other 2 were just found lifeless - and we don't know if it was her standing on them or what.

 

So, go on, anyone out there have chickens and gone through the brooding thing with them? What's the recommendations. Looking around, it's seems 50/50 depending on the temperament of the chickens as to what is best .. but I wonder if whilst they hatch the last of them, we should shut them off for a few days.

 

Like I say, the ducks are fine, out biggest concern there is them getting taken by a rodent, but mum seems to scare anything off that goes near, including our 2 cats - and I certainly wouldn't want to mess with her, I mean even putting feed down is fun with her hissing and flapping. lol.

 

Normal geeky forum posts will resume shortly! lol ..

 

Andy T

[soveryapt]

Oh, a few pics too .. why not huh!

 

[witch]

Awwwwwwwwwww

[dhicks]

I'm wondering, what do we do, let nature take its course and leave all the hens together with the chicks and let the cock stay around too (he's called Travolta because he's white and struts everywhere) or should we shut off the mother hens with the chicks for a while?

 

I remember my Grandad used to put the hens with chicks in their own mini-runs, away from the main chicken runs, until they'd grown a bit, and I think the chicks had their own chick-sized section in that run that only they could fit in. It would also have protected against foxes, cats and so on.

[soveryapt]

I remember my Grandad used to put the hens with chicks in their own mini-runs, away from the main chicken runs, until they'd grown a bit, and I think the chicks had their own chick-sized section in that run that only they could fit in. It would also have protected against foxes, cats and so on.

 

Ooo .. time to play with power tools and get building then! lol ..

[Pyroman]

Pictures when you've built it!

[Greenbeast]

yeah it's probably worth keeping the chicks just with mums till they get a bit bigger

[bushby]

I live on a farm and have about 40 chickens.

just cockblock Travolta to protect the chicks (they are stupid at this stage) however when they are about 18months you can then sex them

at this stage separate the cockrals from each other as fighting will start (not a nice sight at all blood all over the place and in bad cases missing eyes)

best thig to do is keep one cockral and fatten up the others (they taste even better when fresh not from shop)

[GeeHubb]

EEEK. You mean.... Eat them!!!

 

I was out picking strawberries at a fruit farm at the weekend and came across some mini-runs where ducklings were being 'fostered' by hens? Never seen that before. Is it common for hens to look after ducklings?

[soveryapt]

EEEK. You mean.... Eat them!!!

 

I was out picking strawberries at a fruit farm at the weekend and came across some mini-runs where ducklings were being 'fostered' by hens? Never seen that before. Is it common for hens to look after ducklings?

 

We had one of our hens sit some duck eggs last year, so hopefully it's somewhat sensible.