Our Buff Orpingtons are 7-months-old and already we've got a baby chick. When we realized one of them had gone broody, we were surprised to say the least. Especially so late in the year. So we didn't mark the calendar to count the 21 incubation days for hatching chicks. About the time we figured she was setting on all duds, Dan said he'd give her another week. The very next day she presented with one baby chick!
The problem was that the dominant hen is pretty mean and she set out to kill it. That meant a scramble on our part to catch the remaining hens and move them to the big chicken coop. We'd recently thinned the flock to winter numbers and Rooster Shooster was a bit mopey with so few hens left.
We shut the Buffs by themselves in the coop for the rest of the day and Dan let them out in the evening. Amazingly there were no territorial challenges and no fighting. Everyone seems to be getting along fairly well.
Of our Buff rooster, he didn't make the cut.
He was very handsome and attentive to his ladies, but he was too aggressive and came after both Dan and me. We won't keep aggressive animals so he had to go.
Mama Buff is an excellent mother and seems perfectly fine with just her and Baby Chick in the chicken tractor yard. Eventually, we'll move them in with the other chickens.
1 comment:
Amazing that a pullet would go broody and become a great mother! I know you wanted a breed that would raise chicks; you obviously chose well. Was the singleton sired by the Buff rooster?
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