The Broody - Learning Experience #528

I have had the amazing pleasure, over the last few months, of having a couple of broody hens. It has been so fun and yet another learning experience. 

So, it all started with Pepper. Pepper is our Bantam Silkie and sweet roo who is too small to mate most of our hens. So, to save the ones he can reach from overmating, we decided to get a couple ladies for him. I contacted the person we got Pepper from and asked if she had any Silkie girls we could buy. She had two Partridge ladies and apparently one of them was currently broody, but without eggs.

I picked them up a night or so later and the seller was kind enough to throw some call duck eggs my way, for the broody. I got them home and set them both up in our small coop, to get them integrated, and popped the call duck eggs underneath the broody (she is now known as Coco). Over the next couple of weeks, the ladies hung out together and Coco stayed on those eggs, doing a wonderful job. Wookie (the non-broody lady) came out to play with the rest of the chickens and was immediately welcomed (by Pepper, in particular) or ignored. It was perfect. Meanwhile, Coco plugged away with seven fertile eggs.

It was about day 30 when they decided to pip, but remain inside the eggs. One of them ended up with a broken up egg and died and two others didn't make it either, so Coco hatched out four tiny, tiny Call Duck babies. 

Then, despite them all being isolated from everyone else, in our small coop, the first two ducklings to hatch disappeared (see the sweet picture above). My husband and I looked everywhere, but eventually came to the conclusion that a snake had gotten itself a solid meal. We immediately removed the poultry wire, since they were locked in a secure run, we had only worried about the other chickens getting to them, and attached some hardware cloth all around, plugging up any tiny holes. It worked, and the two remaining babies stuck with their mommy tight.

As this was my first broody, I was unsure what to expect and totally unaware of how good of a Mommy chickens are. Coco was amazing to these babies. They are much bigger than she is now and would still be cuddling with her at night if it wasn't for her hatching some more babies right now. 

One of my more entertaining moments with Coco and her babies was when she decided they needed a bath and tried to teach them dust bathing.  The poor babies didn't know what was going on. So, I ended up picking up the ducklings and taking them inside for a bath, while Coco took some time to soak in her dirt for a bit. 

Next up was Wookie, the other Silkie hen who went broody a few weeks after Coco hatched her ducklings. We didn't have any fertile eggs for her and I was unsure if we really wanted to let her hatch any - for about a second - then I called a local farm and asked if they had any fertile eggs. They did and I ran out and grabbed a dozen. I put them all under Wookie and decided to let her decide how many she could handle. In the end, 7 of them stayed under her and developed. She hatched out all 7 babies, but two of them she pushed away and they died while still wet. She apparently knew something the rest of us didn't, so five babies it was.

Wookie was an amazing Mommy, teaching them how to eat, bath, everything that a Mommy does. They decided to hatch on the coldest day of the year and since the other two had died cold, I brought Wookie and her brood inside for about a week, to ride out the 10 degree weather in the warmth. 

Now, when the babies made it to about four weeks old, we came home and Wookie has disappeared. We have been doing a few things to keep hawks away, but it wasn't enough. Two days after Wookie disappeared, her baby, Lemon, also disappeared. With the loss of Wookie, we fenced in a shaded area and hung owl reflectors. When we lost Lemon, we hung more pie plates and kept a closer watch. Then we had a third attack. I was home during the day and heard the crows outside. I went out to watch everyone and saw the hawk sitting in my yard, she had grabbed another baby, my favorite one, Izzy the roo. I was able to get him back, but he was too badly injured and died shortly after. 

At that point, I brought out the big guns (not literally). We built a scarecrow and multiple coverage areas (cool gazebo below) for them to hide under. It didn't take log for the doodles to figure it all out and we have not lost anymore, thank goodness.

So, today, Coco is hatching another batch, this time it's her own eggs, fertilized by Pepper, the Silkie roo. We have two that have appeared so far and I am anxiously waiting on the remaining five eggs.

So, here's what I have learned about the broody hen:

1. They are WAY better at hatching eggs than I am. Balancing the heat and humidity is not my forte. I can manage to hatch a couple of eggs here and there, but a broody knows what she's doing. The Call Ducks were Coco's first set and she was eight months old at the time. She did great.
2. When babies are outside, instead of inside the house in a brooder, you have to think of snakes and animals that will only go for babies. This batch Coco is hatching today is completed enclosed in a small coop with hardware cloth. I found a hole about the size of a silver dollar and cut a small piece of cloth for it too. No risks!
3. Hawks love bantams and teenage chicks as well. I have never lost a standard hen to a hawk and my ducks do fine as well, but the little ones are fair game. When these get bigger, they will only be out under my watchful eye until they are grown.
4. Watching a broody teach their babies after the hatch is simply wonderful. The safety and comfort they give is beautful. 
5. This was kind of sad, but wonderful as well - if a Silkie Mommy disappears or dies, a Silkie Daddy will step in and take care of the babies just as well. When Wookie disappeared, Pepper stepped in and he did everything she did, including sitting on them at night for warmth. Even though they're too big now at 9 weeks, they still snuggle with Daddy every night.

And here is Coco with her beautiful first baby chick, the only egg that wasn't hers. This is Mabel, our 1/2 Sapphire 1/2 Pepper baby. 

Processing Your Chickens

I am not a vegetarian, but I am an animal lover. I do not believe those two things are mutually exclusive. My husband and I have several pets and we love each and every one of them and believe they deserve a loving home. I also believe that animals we eat should be treated humanely until that point where it's time for dinner. So, following this belief system, I thought having birds that we raise for meat would be something that would be fine. I love the idea of really knowing where my food comes from and being a chicken person now, I thought, I eat chicken, so I can kill a chicken. But the reality in my head turned out to be much different than the reality of having chickens in my backyard. 

I have, after much research, googling, and an acceptance of my heebie-jeebies, am finally owning that I will not ever have meat chickens that I kill or eat myself. My chickens will always have names and lives as long as they would like in my backyard. The local grocery co-op sells birds that are packaged by a local Amish farm that are both affordable and delicious, so that's what I'll be going with when I want some good chicken.

In doing research on this topic, one thing I discovered is that it's not really easy to find people who will process small numbers of birds for you and this is important if you are not able or willing to do it yourself. There is this Directory provided by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, but it appears that not all places are listed. So, for the rest of you (I'm a little jealous), here's a list of additional places in Kentucky that I have seen recommended for processing birds.

1. David Miller at Hamilton Valley Poultry Processing on Hamilton Valley Rd in Garrard County. (859) 925-9871 From Lancaster take 52 towards Paint Lick ..look for hwy 954 turn on to it go about 3 miles you will pass a blue bldg as soon as you pass it make a right turn and follow that road you will come to a Y turn left and follow that road for about 4 miles or so you will see a sign that says Hamilton Valley Poultry Processing on your left. They charge 3.50 per chicken. FDA inspected.  leave him a message and he is really good at calling back. They process on Tuesday's and Thursday's.

2. The Meat Shop - (606) 365-3800 - 95 White Oak Rd., Lancaster, KY - http://www.themeatshopinc.com/ We can process you home grown beef or hog. For those Deer Hunters process deer, make summer sausage and jerky. We also sell retail meat.

3. Taylorsville Butcher's Block - (502) 354-0168 - 226 Taylorsville Rd, Taylorsville, KY. http://www.faulknermeats.com/ We at Taylorsville Butcher Block thrive on customer satisfaction! We will do anything to make the customer happy! We offer custom and USDA processing, along with retail sales to the public! All of our Meat is fresh never frozen, and top quality. We also offer deer processing! If we dont have something in stock, we will do our best to find it for you and offer it in our store!

This is just a few so far. Please, if you know of any others that are not in the KYAgr directory or above, let me know!

Benefits of Backyard Chickens - No Really

There are a lot of articles out there about the benefits of having backyard chickens. Most of them seem to point out the positive impact chickens have on the environment or the importance of treating animals humanely. Sure, that's great! I'm a big fan of all that stuff, but what if that's not really your thing? What if you want them to benefit you and/or your family without making a political statement? What if you just want to do something cool and super fun?

Raising chickens in the city is something that has provided me tons of things that have nothing to do with being organic, liberal guilt, or animal rescue and they can do the same for you!

1. The eggs taste better. They really do. I didn't expect that one, I was all, yeah, right. It's definitely true though. The yolks are darker than store bought and have a richer flavor. I wasn't a huge egg fan before I got the ladies, but now, I cannot get enough quiche. I even own egg cookbooks. 

2. They eat bugs and mice, lots of them. I love that they eat bugs, but in particular, mosquitoes. YES. I watched my barred rock jump and pick them out of the air once and it filled my heart with joy. My husband, meanwhile, loves that they eat spiders. That's all I'll say about that. Them eating mice is one of my favorite things as well. And they don't leave little body parts, like my cats do. 

3. Thanks to composting with bedding and chicken poo I bought my first bag of garden soil just last week. Usually, by early March, my husband and I are trying to figure out how we can afford to get a ton of new soil for the gardens. But thanks to composting over the winter and deep litter in the run, we had plenty of excellent stuff to use for the garden and to get things going. 

4. They are hilarious. I cannot express this one enough. They truly crack us up all the time and have such individual personalities. We used to have a bantam rooster named Turtle (when he was first hatched he would fall on his back all the time and couldn't turn over). His complete inability to properly mate our regular sized hens is just hilarious. The poor guy. He's very intense and we believe it is frustration.

  

And spaghetti noodles; watching them run away from each other to hoard them is amazing. Who knew? If you really want to be convinced, find someone who has chickens, bring beer (or coffee or whatever) to their house and sit and watch the chickens. It's hours of fun.

5. If you're up for harvesting chickens, they taste way better fresh than the frozen Kroger version. This was also a nice surprise. My feelings on hearing this from chickens folks(or people who spend $25 on a whole chicken at a snooty grocery store) was very much like #1. But, as I tell my kids, sometimes it's good to be wrong. 

6. They get my lazy butt outside.

I get more exercise since I started with the chickens, than I have since I was in my early 30s (my peak physical time). And because I care about their well-being, I do all sorts of stuff during the winter to keep them comfortable as well, even if it's freezing, rainy, sleety, muddy, all of it. A couple of years ago, I would have chuckled at the thought. I HATE the cold. Yesterday, there were tornado sirens going off and I was running outside with mealworms to get them into the coop. Yes. I hate tornadoes. I'm usually the one in the tub with a couch cushion over my head. It's like I've gone insane.

7. They mow the yard. Now, this is both a plus and a minus really, because really, they'll demolish your yard, depending on how many doodles you have. Our first year, they kept the yard mowed, but the second year there was no grass to be seen. So, we worked out a compromise and built an enclosure, agreeing to split the yard with them and our side gets seeded a lot. We have the chicken yard and the people yard. Our front yard (no chickens there) started getting mowed this year in early March and we will likely mow the backyard 2-3 times this summer.  

8. I can build stuff now. Due to a desire to take care of these monsters, I have new power tools and have learned all sorts of things about building stuff. My husband has been a patient teacher of the basics and he has learned more complex stuff as well. Just a few of the additions to our tool collection include a dremel, router, table saw, a cordless drill and circular saw set, so we can both work at the same time. We're very macho. 

9. You get to buy cool stuff. I now own things like muck boots and work gloves. I go to tractor supply now and need cool things in the store. I even have a bunch of t-shirts declaring my chicken love. Good stuff.

 10. Falling in love. Since I have gotten chickens, my life is truly more full. This from a woman who was incredibly happy before. In that time I've had my kids move out, had to convince my husband  (he's 100% on-board now. Ok, he's as bad as I am) and had many friends think I've gone out of my mind. I went from not having pets during my adult life to becoming this giant animal lover in my 40's. But, I am absolutely in love and my husband and I have such an amazing time with them. Being home is my favorite. 

11. And ... baby chicks. I mean seriously. Everyone loves them and watching them hatch out of an egg is exciting EVERY time.

Now, go buy chickens. GO.