An offerAn offerHad an offer from the place I got my chooks from today. As I have three broody chooks, the lady said she would give me some fertile eggs for my chooks to sit on. I do not want anymore chooks, so she said when they were four weeks old she would take them all back. Got to admit I am tempted as am sure Grandaughter would love to see baby chooks, but not totally convinced. It would mean putting the nest boxes lower and not sure I would want to part with the babies either.
Thoughts/comments welcome.
Re: An offerMy first thought is - what would she do with the boys which are bound to hatch?
Sounds like it would be lovely for your granddaughter but I wonder why she isn't hatching them herself. Is 4 weeks too young to separate from the 'mother'? I've never had chicks, just wondering Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell Chief servant to Marley the cat Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey. Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper Re: An offerGood points, Karen.
She does hatch them herself at home and then takes them to a garden centre where she works and they sell them which is where I got mine from. She seems very caring and knowledgeable and think she was may be offering to do this on poss a one off basis as we were talking about children knowing/seeing where their food came from and she knows I have a dislike of c.ckerals as had a nasty experience years ago. I will have a look on good old Google to see what info I can find.
Re: An offerSounds like a tempting offer, but, like you, I would not like to part with them and would especially be worried about what would happen to the boys. There are so many in the world already that need and deserve good homes - personally I don't think I could do it.
Re: An offerEven if you gave the chicks back you'd still have to accommodate the three mums and their offspring for 4 weeks. Unless you have spare accommodation it may be more trouble than it's worth.
You could end up with a high proportion of boys and then what happens to them afterwards? I'd be inclined to let her hatch her own chicks even if it disappoints your GDaughter. Re: An offerThe facts that I have found on Google say that the chicks can leave mum at 4 weeks old.
I would not have the room unless we extend massively to accommodate 3 broodies with chicks and keep them separate, which I am not going to do, so that would mean I would have to leave them in with the other 4 chooks I have. Now these are pretty docile, especially the 2 Campines, but not positive I would want to do it that way if I am honest. Thinking about the transferring of the babies back to the lady.......would I be able to do this with the lock down we are under? If not allowed then I would have to accommodate them even longer....... Thinking I am erring on the side of thanks, but no thanks. Thanks for all your input, much appreciated.
Re: An offerGwen, it probably wont make a difference to your final decision, but as far as I'm aware there are no restrictions on poultry movement under the avian flu restrictions. As long as bio security measures are being followed, moving the chicks should be fine. Be worth double checking the DEFRA website
It sounds like the bigger challenge would be keeping the chicks & broody seperate from the rest of the flock. Show your granddaughter some youtube videos of chicks hatching, then take her to the garden centre to see the chicks when they are for sale. Then take her to see your grown up ladies Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell Chief servant to Marley the cat Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey. Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper Re: An offerI have thought along the lines of asking the lady at the garden centre if I can take Chloe there to see her chickens/chicks if needs must. Whether she would want this might be another matter.
Luckily enough I have not told Chloe of the lady's offer, so she will not be that disappointed, although she has asked if I can let one or all of the broodies have babies. Have told her that we would need a c.ckeral for that, so had a biology lesson too. LOL It is a good job we are not at the old house as there we had a courtyard with loads of barns, so space would not have been a problem. Here we are very limited and when going for the chooks I said initially 5, but got persuaded by Clare and the garden centre that the space we had would carry 7, which if I am honest is plenty of room for them. Thinking with my head and not my heart I really would not have time to spend on them with the roofing work we do, Clare's hydro too and me being an older person, i.e. 70 in August. So that is definitely a no then...........
Re: An offerHi Good call.
Bob
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