bad day today

one of my hen birds escaped today and isnt settled here [midlands] she is feeding young so whats the chances of the cock bird rearing them on his own they are 9 days old and i have some droppers with chicks the same age .i know it might sound cruel but if the cock bird deserts them could i do a swap and do away with droppers chicks?and to make matters worse a sparrow hawk has took that rescue bird of the garage roof! all the time i spent getting it right for that to happen

i thought i was unlucky, i would put them under the tippler if you want them.....unless you have other the same age,one pair will bring 3 ybs up

Dont worry he will do it, just make sure there are no spare hens in the loft to attract him away from the babies, I had a hen last year and the cock was 11 and died suddenly of a heart attack, she reared 2 on her own no problem at all. Leave them there and he will sort them out, if he doesnt I would be very surprised but you can always foster them later on if he fails...but he wont?

yes billy he will bring them up on his own nothing to woory about mate soory to here about the rescued bird mate after all the effort what a shame

thanks lads i will leave him to it then and just monitor the situation as it goes noticed him not sitting on chicks tonite tho and its gonna be cold but as ive just said will check tomorrow and if all else fails will sacrifice the droppers as these xchicks are from good stock thanx again tho will keep you informed.and as fror that bop its in trouble now i assure you my birds come first lads like yours do

would agree with martyn and ian, he should rear them his self.........and as martyn says make sure he isnt tempted by any spare hens tho.

i would,nt take the chance if i was you, but listen to the other lads they know more than me..let me know how you get on

peel bros wrote:

i would,nt take the chance if i was you, but listen to the other lads they know more than me..let me know how you get on

i dont know more than you ray................

Just a quick enquiry to see how the cock managed looking after the young??

DAVID wrote:

peel bros wrote:

i would,nt take the chance if i was you, but listen to the other lads they know more than me..let me know how you get on

i dont know more than you ray................

think that was a sarcastic remark david

SGWBrown wrote:

Just a quick enquiry to see how the cock managed looking after the young??

yes would be nice to know how it went on steve...........

highflyerboy wrote:

one of my hen birds escaped today and isnt settled here [midlands] she is feeding young so whats the chances of the cock bird rearing them on his own they are 9 days old and i have some droppers with chicks the same age .i know it might sound cruel but if the cock bird deserts them could i do a swap and do away with droppers chicks?and to make matters worse a sparrow hawk has took that rescue bird of the garage roof! all the time i spent getting it right for that to happen

Highflyer the cock will feed them o.k just make sure he has plenty of food in his box at all times as the youngsters will take a lot out of the cock bird, but like martyn says make sure there are noother spares hens about

chicks doing well lads

good news, thought they would be ok, most birds can rear 2 chicks no problem, you often find 1 bird does the lions share anyway, also when the chicks need most corn when they are at there biggest the hen stops feeding anyway.

glad they are doing well h.f. boy. how about a picture when they are a bit bigger.....?