Surrogacy considered?

[hepina]

Hello,

this is a bit of a different post and I just write it down plainly as I can.

We have a hen that goes in and out broodiness. She is like a broody machine. We already had two lots of chicks this year and she is in her fourth episode of broodiness this year :-(

This means that we are on only one egg a day as we have only two adult hens at the moment (and waiting desperately for first lot of chicks to start laying eggs - they are 22 weeks now!!!). My partner gets a bit annoyed with it; I am the one pushing for keeping all of them as they are my pets really. We can't have any more chicks due to a space restrictions.

Our broody is exceptional Mum. As I mentioned, she brought up two lots of chicks this year, protected them from everybody and everything (our cat is petrified ), she is very devoted. She is healthy and very agile Polish cross, just over one year old. She can easily accommodate between 8-10eggs.

My question, without trying to offend anybody, is: would anybody on this forum be interested in raising chicks with the help of our broody? The idea was that you can supply your own fertilised eggs, our broody will sit on them those three weeks and then you can have your chicks back or leave them with our broody for another week or two if you prefer.

No real payment is expected, we definitely don't want to make money out of it. Supply of fresh 'home-made' eggs is the only benefit we could possibly ask for (one egg a day while she sits on your eggs and raise the chicks). We have a free supply of bedding material (even to share with you if you like) and she would be free to roam our garden.

I have read many posts where the incubators broke half way through the cycle and left some of you disappointed. So if you think this might be a good idea, please, get in touch.

Oh, the most importantly, we are in central Devon.

Thanks for reading.

 

[daniellesdogs]

i considered renting my 3 out too they not even a year and have 2 healthy happy chicks each and iv had to brake the broody cycal on one, 3 times scince.. iv got eggs in the inc but as soon as they hatch i recon one of the 3 will rise to the challange.
i think its a great idea but i know if i was to take chicks away at 3 weeks my girls would never forgive me
chicks seem much healthier under broody hen

 

[Chuck]

That's a nice offer Hepina. Reminds me that many years ago I used to borrow a broody when I wanted to bring up chicks.

When your youngsters decide to lay depends on what breed they are. Some breeds are notoriously slow to come into lay and many will not lay until at least 26 weeks. This time of year, unless they are bred for laying, they may not lay until spring.

 

[hepina]

Well,

our chicks are complete mix... Father was White Sussex and Mums were Polish cross and Buff Sussex (possibly again a bit crossed with something else).

I am getting a bit annoyed as well as our brown hybrid hen (looks like Buff Sussex but slimmer) started lo lay by 20 weeks of age.

I really hope you are wrong (with all the respect!) and they will start laying this year as otherwise they will end up in a pot :-(

The situation is that we have four chicks at almost 23 weeks (two of them are cockerels that will go in a pot as soon as they start being vocal) and 5 chicks at 12 weeks that will definitely won't start laying until spring (two of them cockerels :-( ). Add two adult hens and you end up with 11 birds running around our garden expected to be fed but producing only one egg a day!

 

[E3lx]

Thats a really nice offer... shame im a bit far away!

 

[Chuck]

Unfortunately, if you want eggs, you need to make sure the parent stock are good layers. Just one bad cross can destroy the egg laying ability for generations.