1 258
no comments yet
0
Author:
Rasskazov Pavel.
Reading time: 2 minutes
A chicken, like any female, has a maternal instinct. In representatives of various breeds and crosses it is developed to a greater or lesser extent. From a physiological point of view, the awakening of the maternal instinct is caused by the action of a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. As a rule, this happens in the spring and summer.
Do you need a hen?
When a hen remembers her maternal instincts and begins to lay eggs, she stops laying eggs. The bird is reluctant to leave the nest, creating the ideal temperature for future chicks to mature. The desire to hatch offspring may arise after intense egg laying. This is due to natural needs, despite the fact that several generations of chickens can be hatched in incubators.
To ensure that the chicken does not become a hen, but continues to lay eggs, poultry farmers use various methods. Some are humane, others not so much, but what can you do, because many set the main goal for chicken to be high productivity. A chicken that does not lay eggs does not generate income for its owner if he makes money from the sales of this nutritious product.
And sometimes it happens that the chicken changes dramatically in its desires. She can sit in the nest for a couple of days and then abandon the clutch. Therefore, to avoid turmoil in the chicken coop, poultry farmers choose the calmest individual to play the role of hen. She is given eggs that need to be hatched, and in other hens the desire to breed is eliminated at the first sign. This must be done decisively, without harming the quotation itself.
Has the hen sat down to hatch her chicks or is she just sick?
There are several clues that a hen will tell you when she decides to become a mother.
Mother hen behavior is unlike any other type of behavior. But sometimes people confuse it with a chicken that is sick or simply offended by other laying hens. A sick hen sometimes hides in the nest box and does not want to come out. You need to offer her food, show her the treat and attract her attention.
For example, take a simple boiled sausage.
- Doesn't react to tasty food? Is sick or afraid of his sisters.
- Did you grab the treat? Perhaps sat down to incubate.
- Did you crawl out of the nest for a piece of sausage, peck it off and look for more pieces? She's fine!
Method 1. Use old-fashioned methods
Many chicken coop keepers believe that for a bird whose instincts have awakened, it is necessary to expose it to stressful conditions. Then she will forget about her maternal feelings and after a while she will begin laying eggs again. Let's look at some methods that are often used in rural farms.
- Rinse the chicken with cold water. The kvochka is completely doused or dipped in a basin of cold water. The fact is that the bird’s body temperature rises during the incubation period: this way it ensures the optimal temperature for the maturation of future offspring. To prevent chickens from sitting on eggs, people lower their body temperature with cold water.
- Deprive her of food. Some poultry farmers believe that a hunger strike helps discourage the desire to brood. The chicken is not given food for several days, after which it, being in a state of shock, stops clucking.
- Put him in prison. The chicken is placed in the basement for several periods to deprive it of a comfortable habitat. As you know, chickens love light, so the room should be dark. At night, chickens are less active, which will allow them to forget about their awakened instincts. The quonka is also fed in the dark.
All these methods, despite their popularity among the people, are not very effective. They help some, but for others, all tough attempts to dislodge the hen from nesting end in failure: the hen, after several days of torment, returns to incubation. Sometimes the method works against the owner: the chicken not only stops hatching, but also stops laying eggs for a long time.
In addition, these methods are very cruel to a living being, and can even lead to dire consequences. For example, dousing a bird with ice water can cause respiratory tract disease. And prolonged starvation and keeping in the basement can not only weaken the chicken’s body, but also lead to death.
As a result, using cruel and irrational methods, you can destroy your laying hens. Therefore, such techniques should be treated with great caution. Even if your neighbor claims that going on a hunger strike helped him keep the chickens away from the nest, it won't necessarily work in your case. To discourage hens from incubating, modern poultry farming uses more gentle methods. We'll talk about them further.
Creating conditions for laying hens
If you decide to help the chicken with her intentions, then you need to take care of special conditions:
- when several chickens want to hatch eggs, it is better to select the calmer ones and throw all the eggs to them;
- when kept in cages, the bird should be sent to a separate cage with soft bedding;
- it is important to systematically feed and water the expectant mother;
- You should not try to check the eggs, as this increases the aggression of the hen and may cause her to refuse further hatching.
After the chicks are born, within a few weeks the bird will return to its previous state and begin laying eggs.
Method 2. Place in a cage
There is a great way to get your hen to lay eggs again instead of sitting on eggs. This method is the most effective among all existing ones, and it is also more civilized. To use it, you should make a small cage, the sides measuring approximately 70 centimeters. As soon as you notice that the chicken begins to cluck, immediately put it in this cage.
The chicken should be removed as early as possible. In order to notice the first signs of a hen in time, keep an eye on individuals that have been particularly active in laying eggs lately. The chicken plucks the feathers on its belly to line its nest and clucks when people approach it. This means she is getting ready to hatch her eggs. If you don't want this, it's time to take active steps to stop brooding.
During the day, place the cage with the bird among its relatives. She must be among actively laying hens. If you do not want the chicken to be outside, leave the cage in a bright and ventilated place. At the same time, provide the quotation with increased nutrition. Make sure she eats enough food and water.
It is advisable to make a cage with a mesh bottom. This way the chicken will feel more comfortable, because it is closer to natural conditions. In addition, this will make it more difficult for the hen to warm up the area underneath her. It is also important to extend daylight hours: during longer daylight hours, chickens lay eggs better and more actively.
2-3 days after being kept alone in a cage, add an active rooster to the hen. Perhaps already at this time the hen is ready to be fertilized, and such a forced community will only speed up the process. After another couple of days, by the end of the day, place the hen on the roost. Let her spend the night among the other chickens. If the bird leaves the coop the next day, it means that its brooding instinct has passed.
The experience of many farmers shows that within a few days after laying, chickens begin to lay eggs again. Although before this they did not lay eggs for 2 or 3 months: this is how long the quons nurse their offspring. You can easily check the effectiveness of the method yourself. Moreover, it does not require much effort or expense. You just need to be a little more attentive to the hen.
However, there are also stubborn hens who, even after several days of isolation, continue to perch on the nest. What to do in such cases? First of all, collect eggs often. Their very appearance causes maternal instincts to emerge in laying hens. The laying procedure can be extended for a few more days to ensure that the chicken is weaned from the ability to sit on eggs.
When birds sit on eggs
To get healthy chicks that, with proper care, will turn into beautiful chickens, there are many things to consider. First of all, it is important to remember that the best time for planting is spring, since the young brood will have enough warm time to grow and get stronger for the winter. Summer and autumn are not the best periods for hatching chickens; it is recommended to artificially cool the hens' desire to hatch.
Not every individual is able to sit for the entire period. Therefore, it is also equally important to choose a suitable hen so that she can fully cope with her task. This is easy to do at home.
Chicken hatches eggs
Important! First of all, her specific behavior will indicate her readiness: she constantly clucks, lingers for a long time in the nest with laid eggs, the hen begins to pluck fluff and feathers to decorate the nest, stops laying eggs and avoids the rooster.
You can also recognize a hen by external changes. Loss of appetite and weight can be taken as a sign of readiness. Also, the hens' combs begin to decrease in size and become lighter in color.
If you cannot identify the hen by external signs, then you can try another way. First you should organize a nest by placing several decoy eggs there. A hen that is ready to brood will sit on the nest and will remain there for a long time. If her desire does not disappear within a week, then you can lay good eggs for hatching.
Nest with decoy eggs
Method 3. Do shock therapy
There is another method to discourage a chicken from the nest. It's called shock therapy. To do this procedure, you will need a step-down transformer. A charger for car batteries is perfect. Clamps are soldered at the ends of the wires; if there are none, you can make ordinary plates.
One end of the electrical cord is fixed on the comb, the other is inserted into the mouth or secured to the stem. Set the voltage to 12 volts, no more, and turn on the current for half a minute. After half an hour you need to do another approach.
This procedure should be done very carefully so as not to kill the bird. She may lose her breathing and heartbeat for a few seconds. So you should use such methods only in extreme cases.
Why is it worth imprisoning by force?
You can wait for the natural desire to become a hen and bring offspring. But there are many difficulties here, since a hen can only start clucking in the middle or end of summer, while she has collected the required number of eggs in the nest for planting. Raising these chickens is a little more difficult.
How to wean a chicken from incubating eggs
Any representative of the chicken coop can start clucking. But if the bird is thin and weak, it may not be able to cope with the task. Experienced owners recommend choosing a hen yourself; it is best to take an experienced bird that has already coped with a similar task.
You should also thoroughly prepare the bird for its responsible mission: about a couple of weeks in advance, start actively feeding it so that it accumulates more fat and nutrients.
Important! Before forcibly placing a chicken, you should take into account that she needs a comfortable place to hatch her chicks. The nest should be located in a secluded dark place, a remote corner of the chicken coop. For example, this could be a box of straw or a basket in which the bird will not be disturbed.
Another advantage of portable planting is the ability to control the number of eggs in the clutch, as well as their quality. After all, chickens can collect eggs in their nest for a very long time, and chicks will not hatch from them. When laying the selected bird yourself, you can secretly add eggs and choose the best and freshest ones for laying.
Nest preparation
Where does maternal instinct come from?
As noted above, incubation is a natural phenomenon. If it is not there, we can talk about the intervention of breeders. The loss of the brooding instinct is the result of long-term (over many generations) artificial reproduction.
At the same time, we must understand that every chicken has “dormant” maternal inclinations. That's why sometimes a bird that shouldn't do it is puzzled by incubation!
By the way, more often maternal qualities appear in the spring. Much less often - in autumn or winter.
The hen is easy to identify visually. The following will tell you about the manifestation of the instinct in question:
- Firstly, a noticeable improvement in egg production indicators.
- Secondly, aggression and anger.
- Thirdly, finding a secluded place for the nest.
By the way, the hen often clucks, it is difficult to drive her away from the nest. And if you manage to get kicked out? The bird will still return!
Important! The sooner you detect the manifestation of the maternal instinct, the easier it will be to wean the bird from incubation
Optimal number of eggs to hatch
One average hen can hatch up to 15 eggs. At the same time, their number directly depends on its age, weight and size - the larger the bird, the more it will fit.
One hen can hatch up to 15 eggs
All eggs should be relatively the same age. As you place them in the nest, mark each one with a pencil. This way you can determine whether the chicken laid more eggs during the incubation process and at what period she did this.
The bird gets up from the nest after the chicks hatch for the first time
There are 2 main methods of creating masonry. At the first time, the fruits are laid out in a row so that they are exactly in the middle under the bird’s body. The second method is based on laying them in a circle next to each other with its middle filled. It is believed that an odd number of eggs is better for hatching.
