Problem Rooster

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by scott, Sep 17, 2005.

  1. Shane Bentley

    Shane Bentley Junior Member

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    Tully do you want our dog, she keeps on digging up our veggie garden & roadbase under house. She is purebreed, if you want to know more I could look up her papers. She must nearly be 10yo. We are waiting for to retire as she doesn't fit in with our permaculture garden.
    Tam yes the Plymouth rocks are great, I have always been into Australorpes, but my wife wanted a change this time.
    Shane
     
  2. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    Hi Shane,
    Sorry, I can't take a 10 year old dog, too heartbreaking when they go...you are very lucky she has made it to 10 years...it's a good age. Sorry she's a pain around the place.

    Her head looks familiar to me and I *would* be interested to know her breeding if you can be bothered digging out her papers. :D
    Thanks
     
  3. scott

    scott Junior Member

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    Thanks for posting pics of your chook limo,Shane.
    :)
    Im off to the local salvalge yard this week end to see what materials
    I can find and hopefully do something similar.

    One of my hens is clucky and i need to isolate her from the other girls.The
    idea is to keep her where she is and put the rest to work digging and scratching where i want them to rather than where they want to.(sounds like a plan) :D



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  4. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    Hi Scott,

    I live in a winery area and have been fortunate enough to collect some plywood crates which I've converted into brooding boxes. It gives me a way to iscolate my broodies and somewhere for her to raise her chickens away from the others. I've also got a mini tractor (a wire cage) which I use to put them out on the grass on fine days, which alows them to a green pick and protects them from preditors.

    I desperately need to build some more as I've currently run out of room. We have one stupid bird sitting on fertilized eggs in a nesting box in the main coop. Each time she hops of the nest to have a snack, poo, drink, she confused and sits on a different clutch of eggs each time. I'm always having to transfer her back onto the right batch, and collect the other eggs regularly so as not to distract her. :roll: The trouble is, my husband uses the crates to store the kindling, and I keep knocking them off to build the brooding boxes. :lol: Can't wait for the next hard rubbish collection. :wink:

    You need to bare in mind that when the chickens are very young, they would be unable to hop up into the nesting, roosting areas of Shane's chook limo. That's the time that they need somewhere protected, in the shade and out of drafts, as the cold can kill them very quickly. If you were going to use a tractor for brooding chickens, you'd need to have the nesting box at ground level, but then this defeats all the advantages to Shane's design of the night/nesting quarters not taking up valuable tilling space.

    Another thing too is that when young, the mother hen does more sitting/squatting than scratching/foraging, and chickens, whilst small, aren't going to be able to make much of a dent on you workload. My plan is to build one like shanes to use for the growing birds, from around 8 - 10 weeks onwards, to keep them out of the already overcrowded main coop, during which time I can decide which to keep, which to sell and which to kill.

    Here's a photo of an old kennel that I converted.

    [​IMG]

    Tam
     
  5. scott

    scott Junior Member

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    Giday Tam,
    I was planning to keep my broody hen in the run and put the rest of the girls in the chook tractor.
    I love the idea of the kennel,but is it ok to move the hen and eggs after she has started sitting???I read somewhere that if you disturb or move a clucky hen she may go off sitting. :?
    Thats why i thought it would be better to move the rest of girls.
    I still want to build a tractor,but if i can move the clucky hen,there's not such a rush. :)
    It's certainly a learning experience.
    On another note,how do you post pics with messages?? Iv had a play,but no luck.
    cheers
    scott
     
  6. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    Hi Scott,

    You can definitely move a broody hen after she's started sitting.

    The problem with most chook owners is usually trying to 'break' the broodiness instead of encouraging it like us who want to breed chickens. The only thing I'd suggest though is to ensure that she's really sitting, before relocating her. She might need a bit of encouragement by way of leaving a next full of eggs or golf balls (I haven't tried the golf balls yet but will next time) for her to get all broody over.

    Once she's well and truely sitting, I then move her, eggs (or golf balls) and all to her box and leave her again for a few days before replacing the eggs (or golf balls) with the fertile ones I want hatched.

    My crates are made in the same way as the dog kennel. I just cut out a big hole at the front with the jigsaw into which I attach some mesh, and build a frame for a hinged corrigated iron roof which I can flip up (attach some rope to hold it in the open position) so I can get complete access to the inside of the box. I always ensure the roof has a slope on it so it can sit out in the weather too. I'm lucky cos I've got a giant oak tree that all my chook stuff's under.

    So as long as things are waterproof, there's plenty of shade provided by the tree. When it's really stormy and windy, I usually place a couple of bales of hay just in front of the front wire panel, until it's passed, then toss the hay to the cows. That protects them from that sideways rain you sometimes get.

    Sorry I waffled on a bit here. Just trying to give the complete picture. :lol:

    I'm hoping to borrow my dad's camera again tomorrow so will take some photos of the other one and post them in this thread.

    Yes, I think it's a good idea to put the active birds in the tractor. They'll do more work. I like Shane's tractor cos it'll fit well into my rectangular vegie garden.

    To post the photos, you need to subscibe to a photo album thingy. I use village photos but if you do a google and search through some of the other threads, there's others that some of our members prefer. Once you upload the photo to your photo album, you can copy the URL and past it in your post, then highlight and click on the Img button above.

    Looking forward to seeing your pics,
    Tam
     
  7. scott

    scott Junior Member

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    Hi Tam,
    Im picking up a wooden crate from work tomorrow,so by about lunch time my broody hen will have a place away from the others.(Thanks for the pic,im doing something similar)

    I have all the materials and tools i need to do the job, so cost is zero. :D

    Another question :? im planning on putting the eggs i collect over the next two days under the hen,but out of interest,how old can a egg be before its not worth using?...and another one..if the eggs have been in the fridge can they be used..?

    So much to learn :oops:

    sorry last question...whats a good number of eggs for an average size
    hen to sit on. :? :? :)

    Sorry if too many questions(just want to do it right first time round)
     
  8. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    Hi Scott,

    I'm glad I've been able to help. :D

    That's great about the crate, and it's so good when you can do things on the 'cheep', or better still, for free as you're doing.

    Eggs can be up to 3 weeks old and still be viable, however it's suggested not to let them go over 2 weeks. I limit mine to 2 weeks.

    Don't put the eggs in the fridge, it'll kill the embryos, which is in a type of state of suspended animation. You need to store eggs at room temperature and if for a few weeks, you do still need to turn them to avoid the membranes sticking.

    I've got some more info on this but will need to dig it out and get back to you.

    I suggest you stockpile your eggs while getting your broody really settled, then place them all under her at the same time, so they all hatch together. Otherwise, she'll hop off her nest to attend to her chickens and ignore any unhatched eggs. Pick a day that will fit in with your committments to. That's the beauty of chooks, you can do that. :thumbright: I set my eggs so it fits in with our vaccination day which is normally late on a Tuesday afternoon or early on a Wednesday morning, so I always set my eggs on Monday just prior to midday. (No, I don't want to hear anything about why I shouldn't be vaccinating!)

    You can place as many eggs as will fit comfortably under your broody. Obviously it depends on the breed and size of the hen and the size of the eggs. I can only fit 6 or 7 at a pinch, Australorp eggs under my silkie pullets, but then the pullets aren't really fully grown yet and the eggs are enormous. I could fit a doz silkie eggs under her, or if setting under an Australorp, (which I don't like to do) I can fit a doz Australorp eggs.

    I've been told by my very experienced friend that odd numbers sit better in the nest than even numbers. Has to do with the way they all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

    If you're really keen to hatch a lot of chickens, and don't have an incubator, you can let her go 2 rounds by taking the chickens out once hatched, replacing them with another batch of eggs, and placing the chickens in a brooder. Sounds a bit mean but that's they way they all did it in the olden days when survival depended on chickens hatching and there wasn't any such thing as incubators. I haven't done it but would if need be.

    My elderly neighbour was telling me that when he was a boy, they'd have the chickens brooding in a box with a candle in the middle. Sounds a bit like a fire hazard to me, but there you go!

    Hope this helps. I'll get back to you with the precise instructions on storing eggs for hatching.

    A couple of fantastic website you should take a look at is 'The Chook Shed', by Greg Davies who sometimes writes for our Australorp club newsletter, and Andy Vardy's 'Backyard Poultry' who has taken over as administrator of the Australorp website. Both very informative.

    Tam
     
  9. scott

    scott Junior Member

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    Hopefully pic of finished broody box. :D

    Ended up being a bit of a nightmare moving the hen from the chook
    house.

    She sat tight in her nest until i was half way to the broody box(20 mtrs) :shock: :shock: she spun out and flew off the nest one way ,eggs went the other,the dogs thought it was some sort of game and decided to join in with the fun.

    dogs running around barking :lol: ,

    hen running around :cry:(not a happy girl)

    and lucky the rooster (yep, still with us :oops: )was going crook in the coop :evil:


    Things are now back to normal,with one very happy hen in her own box not being hasseled by the other chooks.




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