How to wean the chicken to hatch eggs

Many breeds of chickens have a natural instinctive need for hatching eggs. Some birds completely lose their incubation instinct, especially in the species that many generations are grown in incubators. But the incubation instinct is not always desirable for poultry farmers for certain reasons, and in these cases it becomes necessary to wean the eggs from incubating eggs if she suddenly woke up the desire to become a mother.

Do I need a hen?

On modern bird farms, the need for a hen chicken is a moot point, and every farmer proceeds from the goals for which he breeds chickens.

The need for a hen occurs when:

• there is a need for breeding young stock and breed reproduction;
• if there is no incubator, and a new brood is necessary, for example, for a planned herd replacement;
• if you do not want to buy already hatched chickens for financial reasons or if you are not sure about the quality of chicks offered from the hands;
• if the loss of egg production at the time of incubation is acceptable for you and there is a need for a new generation.

Important! The use of an incubator by many poultry farmers is preferable to a hen, since the incubator guarantees almost 100% hatchability.

However, not every farmer considers the appearance of a hen as a positive phenomenon. Klusha incubating chickens is not needed in cases where:

• there is an incubator, and you prefer to get a new brood from it, because the survival rate of hatching chickens is much higher than those that come out from under the blues;
• if you do not need a scheduled herd replacement;
• if there is no need for a new brood;
• if there is no room and room for keeping a new brood;
• if the klusha has shown a desire to hatch in the autumn-winter period, which is fraught with keeping the cubs in a very warm place (house or apartment), and you cannot afford to keep the chicks in the living room;
• if the maximum yield of egg products for you is more preferable than the appearance of new individuals, which is associated with a loss of chicken egg production for several months.

However, the hen can have several advantages over the incubator:

• financial savings spent on the purchase of an incubator and on the cost of electricity;
• there is no need to constantly monitor the process of warming eggs and turn them over, which makes the task of breeding young animals less time consuming;
• in some cases, hens distinguish between non-viable and viable eggs and discard "defective" ones from the nest;
• when eggs are laid, the bird helps the babies to be born, cleans them from the shell and immediately starts the maternal duties;
• the whole hen takes care of the young in the first months, saving you from having to take care of the chicks on your own.

But hatching eggs with chicken also has several disadvantages:

• loss of egg production for the entire period of incubation and rearing of chickens, when the chicken ceases to nest completely;
• the number of eggs that the feathered mother is able to warm with her body is rather limited - only from 10 to 15 pieces, which is unprofitable on large bird farms when there is interest in mass production of young animals;
• the hen needs to have a separate and specifically equipped room during hatching and after hatching, as in a common henhouse, adult chickens can peck and slaughter chicks;
• there is always a risk that the hen will leave the clutch or not warm all the eggs equally well, and this is accompanied by the loss of chicks, there are also cases when the wedge is careless - it can pass both eggs and chickens;
• hen behavior does not always coincide with the needs of poultry farmers - sometimes it does not exist when it is needed, and sometimes maternal instinct appears at the most inappropriate time.

All the disadvantages of a hen hen are solved by an incubator, in which mass production of offspring is possible, and the process can be carefully controlled, which allows to obtain the maximum yield of the young. The main disadvantage of incubation incubation is the lack of a mother who will take care of the chicks until they get stronger, so all the care for the kids falls on the shoulders of the farmer.

Did you know? Chickens - one of the most ancient domestic animals. They were domesticated by man more than 3 thousand years ago. It happened for the first time on the territory of modern Ethiopia.

Causes of maternal instinct in chickens

Maternal instinct in chickens is a natural phenomenon, but its absence is the result of human intervention in the reproduction of poultry. Many breeds of chickens and crosses, bred by dozens of generations under artificial conditions with the help of an incubator, for the most part have long lost their incubation instinct. But this does not mean that any layer does not suddenly remember its obligations to nature. Mostly, the incubation instinct manifests itself in the klush in the spring, although there are cases when the hen begins to groan in the fall or winter. But in the spring of this behavior is most expected. The breeding instinct is the basic survival instinct of a species that is programmed by nature in any living thing. Therefore, it is logical that chickens show a desire to acquire offspring. The behavior of the chicken during this period is strikingly changing, which is hard not to notice.

Important! Timely action to wean the brood from incubation - the key to success of this procedure. The sooner weaning begins, the less the incubation instinct will roam, and the more painless the process will be for the bird itself.

At first, she begins to carry more eggs than before. Klusha begins to whimper a lot, often becomes angry and aggressive, hides in the corners and refuses to eat. At this point, all the actions of the future hen are becoming maternal. The hen is looking for a secluded, quiet and imperceptible place for the eyes, due to the fact that she is going to build a nest there where she will lay eggs and will hatch them. Such changes in the behavior of the chicken is hard not to notice. And the first reaction of the poultry farmer should be immediately after the appearance of the maternal instinct in hen was noticed. This is important if you want to put the chicken on the eggs, and when you set yourself the task to wean the wedge from the laying.

How to wean the chicken to hatch eggs

There are several ways to wean the wedge from hatching eggs, however, none of them can be called completely humane. The essence of each method is that the bird must experience stress close to a state of shock. Stressful experiences interrupt the incubation instinct, as a result of which the chicken forgets about what it was about to raise offspring.

Read also about how to make a nest for laying hens, get young poultry by naturally incubating eggs and how to raise chickens properly.

Jigging

Probably, this is the most humane and civilized method of weaning from hatching. It lies in the fact that the bird is deposited in a small cage for several days. First you need to build a cage. It can be metal, from thin rods or from wire. The main thing is that the bird through the cage could observe the world around it. It is desirable that the cage was solid, without a bottom, so that the birds were as close as possible to natural conditions and did not have the opportunity to heat the spot. Cell size can be 70x70 cm.

1. Close the hen in a cage, and place it in a common poultry yard. The bird should be among its fellows and laying hens.
2. In those moments when the wedge is not on the run, place it in a spacious, bright and well-ventilated room.
3. Extend daylight as long as possible, because it is known that chickens lay eggs in the daytime and in bright light.
4. Provide the klusha with enough food and water to keep her well fed and not thirsty.
5. Chicken should be in such conditions for 2-3 days. After that, place in a cage to the hen of an active rooster. In most cases, it interrupts any desire in the bird to set eggs. Leave the feathered screamer with willows for another 2-3 days.
6. Every night, bring the cage into the house, and every morning take it out to the very center of the actively grazing chicken herd. This allows the feathered to return to the usual rhythm of life as quickly as possible.
7. After the "sessions" with the rooster ended, the bird is returned to the hen house. It is better to do this before night and just sit down on the perch next to other klushami.

If the chicken has not abandoned brooding after this, jigging is continued for another week. But usually the first week of the specified pattern is enough for the hen to abandon the clutch and began to lay eggs. The main condition for the success of this procedure is to take out the bird in time. This should happen immediately after the hen begins to show the first symptoms of maternal instinct. Therefore, always carefully watch your charges, so as not to miss the alarm signals.

Did you know? For chickens it does not matter whose eggs they hatch. Chickens sit quietly, both on their own eggs, and on others.

Grandfather's method

This method is to create a stressful situation for the bird, preparing for brooding. It is carried out in three versions: a hunger strike, a shower with ice-cold water and the definition of a hen in an absolutely dark room.

1. Hunger strike. They completely stop feeding the bird for several days. The state of hunger is shock for the club and it becomes a signal for her body that the surrounding conditions are not favorable for breeding. The animal's body is sufficiently intelligent and in extreme conditions it ceases to give signals to reproduce, throwing all its strength on self-preservation. This interrupts the instinct of incubation. The main thing is not to drive the chicken, not to get involved in this method and after the end of the hunger strike, feed the feathered well.
2. Shower ice water. This is a powerful stress factor for a living being. In chickens, he interrupts the maternal instinct also for the reason that the hen body temperature increases significantly during the incubation period so that she can warm the offspring well. And the ice bath lowers this temperature. As a result, the bird's body refuses to incubate, as it is not able to warm up the eggs well. For this, the wedge is either doused with very cold water from a bucket, or it is dipped into a basin or a barrel of ice water.
3. Identification of hen in a completely dark room. This is a strong stress factor, because the sun and a lot of light are vital for chickens. Being in pitch darkness introduces a bird into a state of stress, which is why it simply forgets that it wanted to hatch chicks. They keep it for several days in a dark basement or storage room, where there is not the slightest source of light. Feeding is also carried out in absolute darkness.

Important! These old-fashioned methods are somewhat unhuman to the bird and can harm its health, they cause psychological and physical discomfort. Therefore, it is better not to get involved in them and resort to them only if jigging into the cell did not give positive results.

Shock therapy

This is the most radical method of weaning nursing. In addition, not every poultry farmer can afford it due to the lack of necessary equipment. Shock therapy for poultry is carried out using a step-down transformer. For these purposes, charging for a car battery is quite suitable, only it needs a little refit - solder the terminals or plates to the ends of the wires. One clip must be attached to the tongue on the comb, and the second can be located in two places - either on the paw or inside the beak. The power of the current is adjusted to 12 V and passed through the bird. The main thing that the power does not exceed the specified, and the duration of the procedure was not more than 30 seconds. Within half an hour, the chicken is allowed to recover and rest, after which the procedure is carried out again. After the shock therapy, the bird may lose heartbeat and breathing for several minutes. In some cases, death is possible.

Important! Due to the inhumanity and cruelty of the method, its danger and high risk of death, this method of weaning from incubation, although it works well, is definitely not recommended for use.

How to prevent landing on eggs

The best way to wean the chicken from brooding is to prevent the occurrence of maternal instinct at all. But practice shows that it is not so easy to do.

The basis for the prevention of incubation is the timely collection of eggs.

1. Chicken eggs must be removed immediately. Moreover, it is necessary not to allow other clubs to place their eggs under the hen, otherwise there will be some sense. Therefore, every day in the morning you need to go to the hen house and take all the eggs from each nest.
2. To collect eggs is best in the morning, because chickens rush mostly in the morning, after sunrise.
3. Eggs should not lie in the nests even for several hours, otherwise the sobbing hen will find them and sit on them. Therefore, during the day, go several times and check if some feathered new egg has left.
4. Also take care that the bird nests are comfortable, quiet and safe. If the hen is comfortable in the nest, she will not look for another secret place where she would consider it necessary to arrange a new laying. If such a place that you do not know about, will be somewhere, the hen will go exactly there, lay eggs and sit on them. And this is better avoided.

However, practice shows that even the complete absence of eggs does not solve the problem of incubation. Stubborn feathered whimper and sit on completely empty nests. In order not to frighten the bird and discourage it from breeding offspring, you can resort to deception. Yes, with this method, you will lose about a month of egg-laying, but this is less than if the hen would hatch, and it is also more humane in relation to the bird. The essence of the method lies in deception. The chicken is allowed to sit on any one egg and leave it in this condition for about 3 days. After that, gently, imperceptibly, from the side of the tail, an already nested egg from the incubator is being rolled into it, or a chicken has been planted for several days. Chicks left with chicken for 2-3 weeks. During this time, she meets her maternity needs, instinct subsides.

Find out why chickens peck and carry small eggs.

After a couple of weeks, the chicken is taken, and the chicken begins to restore egg production. This method is remarkable because the bird satisfies its maternal instinct and the next time it wants to sit on the eggs soon. After all, in the case of weaning with the help of stress factors, a return to the incubation can manifest itself in the club after a couple of months after the procedures performed.

Did you know? It is not known how, but chickens have the ability to recognize bad, damaged and unviable eggs in the nest. Having found such an egg, the bird either pushes it out of the nest, or eats it, replenishing its own reserves of calcium and protein in the body.

As we can see, there are several ways to wean the chicken from brooding, which can be used if you are not interested in the hen. The choice of method should be based on an individual approach to each individual bird, because what did not fit one feathered, can work perfectly with the other.

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