Spangled Madigin Claret x Roundhead Chicks (Hatched June 9th, 2022)

[Reggie]

Hi!
My name is Reggie and I have recently become chicken obsessed.
As the thread title says I recently hatched a clutch of 8 Spangled Madigin Claret x Allen Roundhead chicks.
I took pictures the morning they hatched and am going to be taking weekly pictures as they feather out.

Edited:
I wanted to add that their mom is the Roundhead and she is the biggest, meanest, broodiest momma I've ever experienced. I'm only leaving them with her for a couple of weeks and then I'm going to be taking over, just because I can't stand that bird lol
Here she is the second morning!
She's a pretty bird with a rotten attitude lol

 

[fashionfobie]

I am also chicken crazed! My current hens are special needs birds. I love raising chicks. From the welcome lane thread it looks like you have them with their mum? I find that absolutely beautiful. Chickens are compassionate and sweet beings. Mummy will give them plenty of wing hugs!

 

[AussieBird]

To say I am chicken obsessed can be an understatement sometimes.
Following this thread as I must not miss any chickie pics!

 

[Reggie]

I am also chicken crazed! My current hens are special needs birds. I love raising chicks. From the welcome lane thread it looks like you have them with their mum? I find that absolutely beautiful. Chickens are compassionate and sweet beings. Mummy will give them plenty of wing hugs!

Oh that's so nice of you! How many chickens do you have? None of my birds currently are special needs, just because I'm moving right now.
Yeah, I'm going to have them with her until after we move and then I'm going to finish raising them separate. Hand-reared birds are friendlier and less skittish in my experience, but I wanted her to have a month to round out the hatching process and to not stress her out too much. Their mom is a rescue and the other 5 game hens I have all came from the same situation, so they're way more people afraid than any of the other birds I have, and I'm trying to train them out of it with positive reinforcement and hand-rearing!

 

[Reggie]

To say I am chicken obsessed can be an understatement sometimes.
Following this thread as I must not miss any chickie pics!

I'm glad there are other people like me!
The next ones are coming Thursday. I'm going to be trying to wing-sex them and taking Week 2 pics! I try not to stress mom out too much and she already hates water changes, lol.

 

[fashionfobie]

Oh that's so nice of you! How many chickens do you have? None of my birds currently are special needs, just because I'm moving right now.
Yeah, I'm going to have them with her until after we move and then I'm going to finish raising them separate. Hand-reared birds are friendlier and less skittish in my experience, but I wanted her to have a month to round out the hatching process and to not stress her out too much. Their mom is a rescue and the other 5 game hens I have all came from the same situation, so they're way more people afraid than any of the other birds I have, and I'm trying to train them out of it with positive reinforcement and hand-rearing!

I have continuously had chickens since 2015. I have adopted a range of chickens over the years. Some were def more hands off, enjoyed chickens more than humans, but that is fine by me.

At the moment I have 2 hens. I am looking to adopt some more, because 3 should really be the min, but sadly one passed away somewhat recently. Of my current hens. Starlight was a rejected day old chick, she was in a mixed box of "unwanted" babies, which broke my heart. I adopted all from that box. But she was the only one to make it, many failed to thrive or had growth deformities. Starlight has sever scoliosis. She lives very well with it, but it definitely hinders some of her range of motion. My other hen is Comet. She has narcolepsy and I believe she is also completely deaf. She doesn't even notice the lawn mower when it is running unless she sees it, as in seriously not at all.

My late hen Silvermoon was adopted as an older bird. She was raised in a brooder situation as a production bird. It took her a long time to trust humans, and she also had clear problems with self-confidence. She did come to be a friendly chicken, loved taking snacks from our hands. Chickens require a lot of emotional support, and brooder chicks have it hard. A whole bunch of babies left to figure things out on their own things, it is freaking sad. Human-raised chickens can be great companions so long as their need for emotional support is met: someone who can be a surrogate hen, comforting them and taking them literally under the wing. When I raise chickens I spend a lot of time just letting them nap on me and letting them cuddle into my arms "surrogate hen wings". I see a very big difference in self-confidence with the birds I have raised vs the rescues from brooders. They are generally better at social situations, more accepting and patient, when I compare them to brooder raised chickens.

Chicken raised chicks may be a little more skittish or hands-off, but they do learn a lot about social life and living as a chicken from being with their own kind. If I had rural property and were allowed roosters, I would prefer chickens to be raised by their own mums. And I detest the current situation for industrial birds, who almost never have maternal or nurturing kindness in their entire lives.

Chickens are simply wonderful.

 

[AussieBird]

At the moment I have 2 hens. I am looking to adopt some more, because 3 should really be the min, but sadly one passed away somewhat recently.

So sorry you lost one


Having raised plenty of brooder babies, I prefer chicken raised whenever I can. Momma hens do 100x better than I could ever.

 

[Reggie]

I have continuously had chickens since 2015. I have adopted a range of chickens over the years. Some were def more hands off, enjoyed chickens more than humans, but that is fine by me.

At the moment I have 2 hens. I am looking to adopt some more, because 3 should really be the min, but sadly one passed away somewhat recently. Of my current hens. Starlight was a rejected day old chick, she was in a mixed box of "unwanted" babies, which broke my heart. I adopted all from that box. But she was the only one to make it, many failed to thrive or had growth deformities. Starlight has sever scoliosis. She lives very well with it, but it definitely hinders some of her range of motion. My other hen is Comet. She has narcolepsy and I believe she is also completely deaf. She doesn't even notice the lawn mower when it is running unless she sees it, as in seriously not at all.

My late hen Silvermoon was adopted as an older bird. She was raised in a brooder situation as a production bird. It took her a long time to trust humans, and she also had clear problems with self-confidence. She did come to be a friendly chicken, loved taking snacks from our hands. Chickens require a lot of emotional support, and brooder chicks have it hard. A whole bunch of babies left to figure things out on their own things, it is freaking sad. Human-raised chickens can be great companions so long as their need for emotional support is met: someone who can be a surrogate hen, comforting them and taking them literally under the wing. When I raise chickens I spend a lot of time just letting them nap on me and letting them cuddle into my arms "surrogate hen wings". I see a very big difference in self-confidence with the birds I have raised vs the rescues from brooders. They are generally better at social situations, more accepting and patient, when I compare them to brooder raised chickens.

Chicken raised chicks may be a little more skittish or hands-off, but they do learn a lot about social life and living as a chicken from being with their own kind. If I had rural property and were allowed roosters, I would prefer chickens to be raised by their own mums. And I detest the current situation for industrial birds, who almost never have maternal or nurturing kindness in their entire lives.

Chickens are simply wonderful.

It sounds like you've got a very big heart for raising chicks!
I'm sorry Silvermoon passed on. It sounds like you gave her a very loving home.

As for my own chicks, that's why I'm letting momma raise them up until they start feathering out a bit more. I don't want them to be skittish to people or learn the bad habits of literally charging me and breaking skin that their momma has so when they're old enough and she's stepped down a bit more from caring for them I'm going to be handling them a lot more/seeing which temperaments I want to keep before I sell the rest.
I definitely understand the momma teaching social boundaries, but I don't like the momma's temperament or how she interacts with other birds (we had her separated even before rearing chicks because she's so mean to the other hens - again, rescue chicken). If she was a sweet and interacted with us or other birds better I'd let her keep them until we sell them full grown, but she makes me nervous and I have to be on the look out for her bullying the chicks too, from what I know of raising gamefowl.
When I said I'd be putting them in a brooder, I more meant to say I'd be separating them at 4 or 5 weeks when their feathers start to come in. I'm going to be separating them by sex anyway and I am nervous about her bullying them like she does the other hens.