Clover Wreath Farm’s Weblog

I’ve read and heard a lot about chick rearing. Most of it unhelpful, I’m afraid. I’ve been told that chickens are aggressive with chicks, most won’t raise their own young, certainly won’t raise another’s eggs, won’t accept other’s chicks, and will probably peck their own chicks to death upon hatching, ALL of which I have seen proved false. Now I don’t know what agribusiness corporation this propaganda this belongs to, but I’d be real appreciative of any true-to-life resources anyone has.

It is possible that my chickens don’t have a problem raising and loving their young because they are loved and properly cared for themselves. They have three acres, barns, green pasture, room for dust baths, and good ol’ nesting boxes lines with pine needles. Maybe chickens in commercial chickenhouses would have a problem raising young, I sure as heck would.

Our bantam hen, Siobhan, sat on my larger hens eggs. She hatched quite a few, but the last two came very late. Siobhan needed to be up caring for the other chicks and the last two, one fresh from the egg and the other peeping from the egg, still needed to be sat upon.

Hilda Mae, a Salmon Faverolle, was sitting her eggs and had been for several days. In an act of desperation because both chicks were surely dying, I stuffed the chick with the shell and the chick in the egg under Hilda.

Now Hilda saw and heard the chick as it went under and she knew good and well that she didn’t hatch it. She accepted it and fell in love. But the eggs (a mix of heritage and modern layer breeds) she had been sitting were adopted by her sister Emiline. Emiline also wanted the chick but didn’t know to stay on it long enough. Seeing and hearing the chick seemed to strengthen her resolve, however. She is now the most committed sitter and her eggs are due right on schedule.

Unfortunately, the egg that was peeping and trying to hatch didn’t make it. It got too cold in the process which leaves it open to pneumonia. But it died underneath a warm moma, not calling for a moma who couldn’t help.

So Hilda has her precious Pearl. They sit and preen each other’s feathers and enjoy the sun and shade together. Pearl is absolutely healthy. Pearl is a true Rhode Island Red, an Ark of Taste heritage breed. Hilda can have another full nest later this summer with our full blessing.

When it is time for Pearl to be in the big, wide world without her moma, I am going to try to assimilate her back into her previous siblings. IF that doesn’t work, she will be my kids’ special pet.

Peace,

Breann

While I write, more of our chicks are hatching. It is an amazing process. And you can’t interfere with it or the chick will die. It is a mysterious event.

Our chicks are hatching under their warm loving momas. Not an incubator to a brooder, but a real, live, feathered, loving chicken moma.

After they dry off and recover from the trial of hatching, they will poke their head out from between their moma’s feathers. And if that is not the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is.

A chick with a chicken moma will eat mostly bugs and worms for the first few weeks of its life. We still give our chicks a natural chick feed, but their moma’s stratching and digging for bugs sustains their rapid growth.

I think it helps their nutritional intake and I think it makes the chicken more healthy over its life span. And I think this means better nutrition in their eggs. I could be wrong about this and I have no proof to back it up. But I think nature is on my side. Chicken momas wouldn’t spend so much time feeding their kids bugs for nothing. Even when there are grains available, they will go for a bug everytime.

We have Madeline’s nest hatched, now almost two weeks. Leah’s nest has hatched and some may still be hatching. Naoimh’s nest is hatching and Rachael is not far behind. Siobhan’s nest is due next week. Brighid’s nest isn’t due until mid-May, but that will give us a bit of a break.

We are still going to have to buy chicks this year. We are buying forty female chicks. I’m hoping by next year, I will have enough sitting hens to sustain my needs without buying chicks. Chicks need their momas. Everybody needs a moma. So we will do our best to be attentive momas to these forty orphans and, hopefully, all of our chickens will be naturally raised from now on.

We plan on stratching large areas for the chicks to find bugs in and giving the chicks love. It is just a poor substitute for the moma nature provides.

Okay, most chickens these days don’t know how to incubate and nurture. So we use Bantam and “game” breeds to sit our larger breeds’ eggs. Our Salmon Faverolle (a larger breed), Madeline, has made a wonderful moma. This breed hasn’t been as scientifically “improved.”

I’m hoping to breed some of the desire to reproduce back into these larger breeds. If it doesn’t work, I’ve at least raised some healthier chicks with little or no cost to me.

Here’s something else to consider: the daily financial cost of running an incubator can be $10.00. Twenty-one days is what it takes to make a chick. $210.00 for one run. This isn’t even thinking about the terrific expense of an incubator. Then you have the cost of running a brooder lamp to keep the chicks warm, which really may burn your barn down. Happened this year to some folks north of here. Tragic for the farmer, tragic for the chickens.

Then there is the hatch rate. In an incubator it is 40%. With a moma hen, it can range from 50% to 100% depending on the experience of the mother. 65% is probably a good average. And it beats the heck out of 40%.

Then there is the time factor. Momas take care of their babies. No moma, so it’s all you. The chicks are more messy (who isn’t neater around their mother?), more prone to disease, don’t know when to get to bed at night, and fall to predators more easily.

No, I don’t think we can switch back to producing chickens the natural way overnight. But I do believe we can start the process.

Women have been “sitting” their hens for hundreds of years. We managed to lose this wisdom in a few decades. I hope we can gain it back before all chickens require a plug-in to live.

Peace,

Breann

www.cloverwreath.com