Chicken Breeds: Choosing Your Backyard Brood
(Page 6 of 6)
March/April 1976
By GT Klein
The hen might have lice, and if she did, these would probably kill or injure the chicks that hatched. Louse powder can be obtained at a drug store or supply dealer, and a few pinches of this worked into the various parts of the plumage before she was set would soon kill the lice. She should be moved to her nest at night and given 2 or 3 eggs. If she seemed satisfied with these, then she could be entrusted with the 15 eggs obtained from a good source.
RELATED CONTENT
Ten breeds of rabbits are now included in the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy’s mission to pr...
Many people interested in sustainably raised meat are concerned about the need to preserve heritage...
Do brown cows give chocolate milk? Do Milking Devon cows give more healthful milk than Holsteins? T...
Diagrams and specifications of several milking cattle....
THE HEALTHY PLATE: Recipe for chicken and shiitake mushroom lo mein...
The hen would have to be fed grain and mash, water and grit. These feeds should be kept in feeders or cans for her so that she could have them when she came from the nest. Unless there were several hens setting on eggs, it would not be necessary to confine the hen to her nest. Where there are several setting hens, it is often well to let them leave the nest twice a day for feed and water, confining them again after feeding time.
The first of the chicks will probably hatch on the twentieth day. It would be well to put slats over the front of the nest then to keep the hen from leaving the nest with the first few chicks that hatch. The hatch should be completed by the end of the twenty-first day or possibly early on the twenty-second day. She should stay on the nest for a few hours after it is completed.
Brooding Chicks With Hens —The chicks and the hens should be taken from the hatching nest within twenty-four hours after the hatching is completed. They will be moving about by that time, and the hen will be restless.
If the weather is fairly warm, the hen and her chicks can be kept on the ground. A coop for a hen would have to be about 2 X 3 feet. It could be a rectangular coop as shown in the drawing or an A-shape shelter. The chicks should be fed chick-size grain and grit for three days and should then have starter mash as recommended for chicks raised with brooders. Keep water and feed before the mother hen.
The hen is confined to the coop for the first couple of weeks; otherwise she will wander off with her chicks and scratch in the garden and flowers. The chicks will not go far away alone. After about two weeks both hen and chicks ought to be in a pen where they can exercise and scratch. They will need their small coop for protection. The hen will probably leave her chicks at eight to ten weeks.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
