Chicks in cold weather Part 4 - Finding some extra warmth from a cuddly Cochin broody.

There are some amazing kindnesses that chickens perform, without seemingly any profit to themselves, other than perhaps to fulfil a need and maybe not even then.

Sometimes people comment in surprise that hens will raise anything but their own eggs but that isn't even half the story. Not only will they raise other species from eggs but some hens will even take on and adopt chicks and other baby birds. In my experience though, as with anything to do with poultry, there are no written rules and it is very much up to the individual hen as to what she will and won't do.

Snow Kitten and 3 of her adopted chicks

If you have been following my blog you will know that this year, I have had several hatches of very late chicks, including some frizzles and fine feathered Sebright crosses. In an attempt to keep everyone in the best possible environment I decided to try to get one of my young Cochin hens (Snow Kitten), who had recently gone broody to adopt some of the chicks. These were to include all but one of the blue feathered chicks, who seemed particularly vulnerable to our recent spell of horrid cold and wet weather. 

A very full and sleepy (note the messy beak) happy chick

My light blue/porcelain chicks (two plain and one mottled with grey) seem to have come to me through two very fine and sybaritic ancestors, a Barbu de Watermael called Gabrielle, who was definitely a house hen and Aramis a beautiful Blue Polish, again a lover of creature comforts, who unlike my other robust and fearless Polish shunned cold weather. These three blue chicks, in many senses of the word, were my core group in need of warmth, although as the weather deteriorated, we gathered a few more along the way. I must also tell you that the chick above is two months old but has still been adopted by my Cochin. The object of this exercise was also to allow the other more hardy chicks to free-range as much as possible, whereas the three babies would be able to rejoin their original groups when the weather permitted. That was my hope anyway and to do so without causing stress to Snow Kitten.

Something I had not reckoned on was that my mother hens, who came from my tree roosting group would attempt to return to roost in the bay tree before their chicks were capable of climbing. Therefore Snow Kitten was on demand as a sort of Night Nurse as well as a Day Mother. One thing that absolutely amazed me was that after doing this for just one night she would ever afterwards come down the garden to the bay tree in the evening just to see if she was needed to supply this function! One particularly wet evening one of the older chicks, the sibling of one of the blue chicks in my group of three, actually slipped down to a lower branch, so he had to be scooped up and added to Snow Kitten's charges. As this chick is so large and cuckoo coloured and thus completely different to the rest, I thought my Cochin might protest but after a couple of light pecks, which just got him into place at the front of the nest box and with her chin resting on him, everything settled down.

I did have a plan on one particularly horrible day to put six more chicks with her in the run with the 3 blues and to which I had also added a light coloured buff frizzle but with the exception of the latter, this didn't work, I think it was just too much.

Snow Kitten gets a time-share in 3 of Cuckoodora's 12 chicks

I also followed through with my plan of letting the chicks with Snow Kitten out of the run to rejoin their original mothers and free-range and forage. I later found that Snow Kitten was following one of the mothers around and actually sitting down and covering a couple of her adopted chicks whilst the other mother carried on scratching for food. I would say that the other mother, Cuckoodora, tolerated Snow Kitten rather than saw her as an asset, which she certainly was to me.

In conclusion I could not believe my luck that this has worked out so well and again I stress that every hen is an individual and may react in a different way but if she trusts you, I believe she thus has confidence in what you are asking her to do. Today the three blue chicks and the buff frizzle are out free-ranging with Snow Kitten, who ideally despite their differing ages, regards them all as new babies and in need of covering-on-demand. There is seemingly no limit to the kindness of Cochins and other hen mothers-in-waiting.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!

Until next time, all the very best from Normandie! Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2015

Caring for Chickens in Cold Weather. Make a coat to prevent & cure cold stress

Although this might seem to be some chichi fashion statement, the idea of creating a coat for your chicken, matching or not, is deadly serious. It was brought home to me some years ago that when my fine feathered breeds, such as Sebrights and Ardenners get older, particularly if they are also frizzled, they do not react well to cold weather. Older birds are very susceptible to cold stress, which if left untreated can be fatal and within twenty four hours.

How to identify birds at risk from cold stress

I have already written a piece on this and I'll put the link at the end of the article but as a general rule of thumb, any bird standing hunched on its own, who has stopped talking or preening and finally eating, is at risk. In particular I would be looking at the very old as already mentioned and very young, who within a flock will be the most likely to suffer stress from other birds and thus are doubly at risk when the weather gets colder. In writing this, I am not suggesting that flocks intentionally pick on older or younger birds but there seems to be a hierarchy-linked rite of passage birds at these ages go through. In normal weather conditions, this can be shrugged off but it is the combination of two possible stress triggers, which can push a bird over the edge into a full-blown stress attack. 

Sweep above is exhibiting typical stress body language, Garboesque in its 'I vant to be alone' interpretation, so I immediately brought him inside to give him some 'time-out' and perched him on the log basket so he could get some warmth from the woodstove. Sweep is 8 years old and although recently displaced in the hierarchy, has actually formed his own coterie outside the main flock or rather as an adjunct to it. This was all going really well until the cold weather hit him.

Coat Designs and Modifications

 

I based my coat on the turkey saddles, we had on our farm, they were made of strong canvas and were to protect the hen turkeys from over-amorous males. Obviously this pattern is just a starting point, each bird will need to be measured but if you start with a template along these lines and use a thick paper, then you can mould it to your chicken and work out a suitable design. When you are planning your coat consider how your bird holds its wings, i.e. in the Sebright they are rather low and also the tail is held high when on alert. Sweep liked his coat so much I left it on him on nights when it was really cold and he needed to be able to fly up to his perch/roost in it, so I took all that into consideration when I came up with my final design.

I also used a double fabric for extra warmth. For Sweep, who likes going out in all weathers this was wool and fleece, which has some degree of waterproofing being made of recycled plastic bottles. The plaid fleece fabric was from a car blanket I'd used to make a jacket for Andy, so there was just enough in remnants to make one for Sweep. The second coat was made for Sweep's nephew Squarky, who hates damp weather, so had a double wool fabric, as you can see the design was made-to-measure for each bird. This pattern can also be used to make chicken saddles for your hens, should they begin losing feathers due to similar problems to those of our hen turkeys.

Today, on the first day of November, the outside temperature was 21°C or 70°F and although we live in a micro-climate on the North Western coast of France this is still pretty unusual. It should be mentioned that sudden changes in weather can also trigger stress in vulnerable birds. I wanted my Polish hen Bungle to model a home-made chicken saddle but even though in fine denim it was too much like hard work when added to her Winter plumage. She immediately flopped down for a sunbathe.

Update: Spring Collection 2016 It has to be denim. I just noticed this little Frizzle has had her feathers damaged by a cockerel, so she is out and about in her new denim coat.

Fabrication

Pin the pattern to the fabric and cut out, including a seam allowance. Repeat the process with another piece of fabric.

With right sides together, sew along the seam allowance, leaving an opening at the neck. Use this to turn the fabric. Then fold in the seams of the opening, sew together and press with a warm iron.

To make the wing loops, cut a piece of fleece, with some stretching ability or use elastic. You will need to plan this so the coat fits snugly to the back but allows the wings to slip easily through the loops. If you use my proportions in the photographs, these work very well.
  
Cut the piece of fleece for the loop from enough fabric so you can make a cylinder, this way you can stop any potential for the fabric to fray. 
 
Sew the  piece of fleece to make the wing loops as per photograph.

If it is too loose the bird will easily remove the coat, by accident and if too tight it will be uncomfortable and restrict movement.

In the following film I go through the whole process in detail, plus there are tips on putting on and taking off the coat. However, after the first couple of times, I found my birds would actually help me do this.

This coat made such a difference to the quality of life of both these birds in the Winter months. Instead of huddling unhappily in a corner, they were happy to be out foraging even on the coldest days.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!

All the very best,
Sue
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©  Sue Cross 2015

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Late Hatches of Chicks - Coping with Cold Weather - Tips and Strategies 2

Continuing my post on caring for chicks in cold weather, Part 1 can be found here. Today being a good example of the vagaries of this year's temperatures, we are looking at a high of 19°C  or 66°F so let's hope none of my broodies finds a cache of eggs! At least I know where broody Chickles is sitting on her china egg!

 

How well does the mother hen and/or the chicks know me?

If you want to make raising chicks in cold weather as easy as possible, then as I've already mentioned previously,  the fact that your chicks know where to come if they get cold or left behind by the mother hen is of tantamount importance. There is a very fine line between interfering and intervention with chicks and as with quail there is no way you want to break the bond between mother and chick by forcing a chick to chose between you. A hen who knows you well, will have no problem with you picking up a chick to warm it or even removing it for extra food or a respite from the cold. A chick who knows you well can be picked up and even taken away and fed without screaming for its mother and making you out to be an evil chicknapper. If the answer to the question above is not at all or very little then...

SOLUTION Handling mother and chick at the same time shows them both that you see them as a unit and reinforces the idea that you are a friend. Feeding a mother and chicks together at the back-door, for example, and/or letting them in now and again, so they all come to see that as a place of safety and sustenance, is also part of the bond with you. That said, chicks are not adverse to coming in the house on any occasion if they know you have food and a hug available on tap, so you'll need to decide where to draw the line!

Above all remember, every mother hen and every chick is an individual, how they react in any situation can be different. It can never be stressed often enough that observation is key. It is through knowing each individual in your flock that you will have the greatest success and the happiest relationships in keeping poultry or rather in living together in harmony.

Why bother about getting chicks outside at this time of year?

Well basically because I believe it is crucial to their growth and health. In particular as we now are heading towards November in our part of the world this will be the last few days we can receive UVB from the sun and make D3. A vitamin which is crucial to so many functions both physical and of the nervous system. In hens, Vitamin D3 is an important factor in the calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and Vitamin K2 balance, crucial to skeletal development. In laying hens this will obviously also impact on egg shell quality, hatchability and health of the chicks. Giving a bird calcium in the form of crushed oyster shell is just the start, this calcium needs to be driven into the bones, otherwise it will end up deposited in the arteries and soft tissue where it can cause damage. In humans, in the Northern hemisphere, even for those who have been soaking up the sun on a regular basis during the Summer,  D3 is running low in the body around mid-October and UVB from the sun will not become available again until March. Ring Bingo (above left), our mottled Polish hatched end of May, knows the value of UVB, he's out in it now soaking up those rays!

This time of year we are also seeing a reduction in arthropods and in cold and frozen ground there will be very thin pickings for all the birds, never mind chicks needing amino acids such as methionine and vitamins such as B12 for feather production, growth, immune and nervous system function. Getting your birds out now will allow them to get as much of this resource as is available and to hone their foraging skills. However, if you have low temperatures, high wind chill factors and hard ground, what do you do?

SOLUTIONS for Vitamin D3. This is something I use for quail chicks even in the Spring because newly hatched chicks are supposed to be kept at around 32°C 90°F. This is a brooder temperature and mine have a mother but even so, I need to be wary in the first days. UVB will not penetrate glass but placing the mother and chicks in their box before an open window or doorway for around 20 minutes of good strong sunlight works wonders. Here with Frizzly and her chicks, you can see, that by choosing a suitable box I can even create a sun trap in one corner.

For hen chicks and with a high wind chill factor I use a double cage. A wire one to keep everything together and stop them running off, of particular importance as a chick will run when it finds a worm and I use this set-up to provide both sunlight and invertebrates. The inner run is made of the cardboard outer of a shop display for oranges, I get this from my local organic shop and it makes a great wind break! Here the mother and chicks are preparing soil for a new flowerbed and finding plenty to eat. In fact I filmed this a quarter of an hour after taking this photo and the chicks were so full I couldn't even get them to demonstrate eating a worm!

The idea of cutting down on wind chill leads me on to another question but as this post is already pretty wordy, I will ask it in the next article

The unhatchable egg or so I thought had been passed between three broodies and often left completely ignored. I had candled it and thought it should have a chance. To the mother who finally hatched this adorable chick, it is the apple of her eye, she dotes on it, as I think you can tell from the photo.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!