Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

For @Jaye and anyone else who wants their daily dose of awwww

A special cockerel came back home to roost last fall, and was put right to work taking care of a small group of girls. The little buggers hid eggs from me this winter/spring, and when I finally found two nests with over 30 eggs, many had frozen or had got too cold to be viable. I put the ones that looked ok in the incubator, and had 13 start to develop, and 6 hatched. One hatched out of the wrong end of the egg, and although seems healthy and strong, he/she has a tiny bit of curly toe and I will probably have to make him wear shoes for a couple of days. I had a broody hen in the barn, less than two weeks ago she started sitting on six eggs that weren't developing (also got too cold), so I put her in a cat cage, brought her in the house, and started sneaking babies under her and taking eggs away. By morning, she was talking to them as if they'd hatched there, instant family! The original thought, was to graft the chicks onto her and then turf them all outside and let mama do all the hard work of raising them...but mama knows where she's got it good, and is refusing to lead them out. She is happy to parade them around the kitchen, and takes pleasure in terrorizing the dog. That's ok, it's still kind of cool and mucky outside, so they get to stay in for a few days so I can fix the one little guys' feet.
Pictures of moms and dad are on my other machine, but Dad is a silver, lemon and black cockerel that carries every pattern in the book, and is probably hiding a few that aren't in there LOL, and possible Moms are: A solid black girl that I know is hiding some surprises pattern-wise, two black girls with one copy of mottled, One fully mottled girl, and a gold laced girl.

Ahhhhh that is cute!

SHe's a clever girl that one!

Thanks much for the update, and for posting these pics, @windwalkingwolf ! What a lovely little family! I really needed a cute fix just now.
Fingers crossed that the little one with the curly toe gets sorted out okay.

Awwwwww. There's nothing better than seeing a broody and babies!

Jaye wrote: ↑

Tue May 01, 2018 7:20 pm

Thanks much for the update, and for posting these pics, @windwalkingwolf ! What a lovely little family! I really needed a cute fix just now.
Fingers crossed that the little one with the curly toe gets sorted out okay.

You're very welcome! He'll be fine, I have no crazy glue on hand so tried to shoe him with tape. No joy, it repeatedly fell off! But, one foot has already mostly sorted itself out, the other is still in need of a shoe, but I'll pick up some krazy glue tomorrow and do them both just to make sure he doesn't end up with any twisted toes that will cause problems later. I'll try to get some pictures of the process too. His feet are not that bad, he can walk well, but sits on his hocks a lot, and the outside of one foot still curls under.

I had a Cochin hatch with both feet as you describe WWW. The outside toes curled under the foot. I used double sided tape on a piece of light cardboard (a kleenex box) cut in a duck foot shape. Stuck the foot down in the correct shape then a piece of medical tape over top to hold everything secure. Not fun on heavily feathered feet. I trimmed the feathers first with manicure scissors. Two days and her feet are perfect. My little OEGB with a curled foot got fixed the same way but sure not fun on those teeny delicate feet. I've never heard of crazy glue method. Interested!

It's pretty much exactly the same, Happy, except no tape required...a little triangle shape cut from card stock (I use a piece of cereal box lol), put little drops of krazy glue where you want the toes to be, position the foot and hold it there for a few seconds. Repeat with other foot, and grin while you watch a chick with a new found ability to run! The whole thing falls off in 3-5 days.

Oh that sounds so much easier!!!

Well, I didn't put any shoes on him...his feet have sorted themselves out!!! First time I've EVER seen that. I cannot even tell which one it was, anymore. Perfectly normal. I put them outside day before yesterday, and had to do a bit of a hen hunt when it started getting dark and I wanted to bring them back in...mama led them right to the milkhouse, where she had started going broody in the first place. I couldn't let them stay there, though, there are muscovies and geese than camp out in there, and they will happily make a meal of little chicks. So, I caged them up and brought them back to the house, with plans to turf them out again yesterday. Wouldn't you know it, it rained all day and again today, so they're still in my kitchen, where mama has taken over and is supervising all the goings-on. She was never a particularly friendly hen before, but all of a sudden, I'm her best friend; not so much as an indignant broody squawk when I come near or pick her up, and the babies are taking their cues from her...they happily submit to being picked up, with cheerful, pleased sounds. Cuddle right in and 'talk' to me. Contrast this with every single other broody I've had, where I am an inconvenient meal ticket at best, and picking up a chick often earns me a threat display.
After years and thousands of chicks, there are still things like this that amaze me.