Thursday, 11 July 2013
As sure as eggs is eggs.
Monday, 8 July 2013
Mum's garden.
Something to aspire to.
Biting the hand that feeds you.
Poppy has gone broody! This dear little miniature chicken, the smallest of the lot, has turned into a screaming banshee. Gone is the timid, meek personality and in it's place is some bold and aggressive bruiser.
We'd been noticing she had been sitting a lot lately. When I say 'sitting' I don't mean just sitting down any old where but sitting in the nesting box, hunkered down and getting very warm. This chicken hasn't been broody before and she was still laying a few days ago (they go 'off lay' when they want to brood) but she was showing all the signs of wanting to brood eggs so when I lifted her off her empty nest for the third time in two days and she puffed up and omitted a low growl - a tell tale warning - then we knew for sure she meant business.
So, our least favourite tactic had to be brought into business. She had to be put in the 'sin bin', the cooling off box. I've described this tactic before when some of the others have gone broody and I'm not sure if I've ever explained why we do this.
We don't run a cockerel with our chickens. We only keep the hens for their eggs so there is no need for a cockerel. We aren't breeding from them and a cockerel in a residential area would be a nightmare. I knew of someone who had a cockerel and to stop him crowing at first light (which in the summer time is 4.30!) used to put him in a roomy box in the under stairs cupboard at night. Not ideal and certainly not fair on the cockerel. So, without a cockerel there will never be fertilised eggs. However, our hens have their nesting instincts and every so often in the summer time they go broody. As this entails sitting on a nest of eggs for three weeks, all to no effect as those eggs are never going to hatch, we need to stop them being broody. If it was just a case of them sitting on the nest and after a few weeks getting bored with it when there is no sign of life in the eggs then I'd let nature take it's course. However, not only can a broody hen get seriously undernourished if she doesn't leave her nest to eat; she also becomes a menace to the other chickens; puffing herself up and growling at them which means they steer well clear of her and can't get into the nesting box to lay. Why not provide more nesting boxes then, I hear you say. Well, yes, there are two nesting boxes and a broody hen obviously only sits in one of them BUT she will growl and scare away the other chickens who in turn will protest loudly with plenty of squawking - it can turn into a cacophony of noise and this is not ideal if you want to live in harmony with neighbours.
So, no cockerel and no hatching eggs but plenty of noise means only one thing - this broodiness has to be nipped in the bud. The other chickens are happy because they can come and go into the nesting boxes as they please when they need to lay and the broody chicken is removed and placed in a wire cage. The wire is on the floor of the cage; it is predator proof and the cage is on legs so that air can circulate underneath it.
The aim is to stop the chicken nesting, she has no bedding material to make into a nest, she cools down and she tends to stand more than sit so very soon she is back to normal. This usually takes about four to six days and as Poppy has not experienced it before I hope she will soon be out of her grump and back to being the nice little bird we are used to.
As she hasn't eaten much, choosing to 'swoosh' her food out of her bowl when Luke twice filled it, I was concerned that she wouldn't eat enough so last night I lifted the lid of her cage and put my hand close enough to drop some seed into the empty bowl. With that the little blighter jumped up and pecked me on the hand - not a friendly bird at all.
This morning though she must be hungry as I've put some pellets into her bowl (dropped from a greater height this time) and she has eaten a few of those. She still grumbles if we or the other hens go near her so it will be a day or two still for her solitary confinement. Not a great process but she will be pleased to be back to normal, I'm sure - as will we all.
We'd been noticing she had been sitting a lot lately. When I say 'sitting' I don't mean just sitting down any old where but sitting in the nesting box, hunkered down and getting very warm. This chicken hasn't been broody before and she was still laying a few days ago (they go 'off lay' when they want to brood) but she was showing all the signs of wanting to brood eggs so when I lifted her off her empty nest for the third time in two days and she puffed up and omitted a low growl - a tell tale warning - then we knew for sure she meant business.
So, our least favourite tactic had to be brought into business. She had to be put in the 'sin bin', the cooling off box. I've described this tactic before when some of the others have gone broody and I'm not sure if I've ever explained why we do this.
We don't run a cockerel with our chickens. We only keep the hens for their eggs so there is no need for a cockerel. We aren't breeding from them and a cockerel in a residential area would be a nightmare. I knew of someone who had a cockerel and to stop him crowing at first light (which in the summer time is 4.30!) used to put him in a roomy box in the under stairs cupboard at night. Not ideal and certainly not fair on the cockerel. So, without a cockerel there will never be fertilised eggs. However, our hens have their nesting instincts and every so often in the summer time they go broody. As this entails sitting on a nest of eggs for three weeks, all to no effect as those eggs are never going to hatch, we need to stop them being broody. If it was just a case of them sitting on the nest and after a few weeks getting bored with it when there is no sign of life in the eggs then I'd let nature take it's course. However, not only can a broody hen get seriously undernourished if she doesn't leave her nest to eat; she also becomes a menace to the other chickens; puffing herself up and growling at them which means they steer well clear of her and can't get into the nesting box to lay. Why not provide more nesting boxes then, I hear you say. Well, yes, there are two nesting boxes and a broody hen obviously only sits in one of them BUT she will growl and scare away the other chickens who in turn will protest loudly with plenty of squawking - it can turn into a cacophony of noise and this is not ideal if you want to live in harmony with neighbours.
So, no cockerel and no hatching eggs but plenty of noise means only one thing - this broodiness has to be nipped in the bud. The other chickens are happy because they can come and go into the nesting boxes as they please when they need to lay and the broody chicken is removed and placed in a wire cage. The wire is on the floor of the cage; it is predator proof and the cage is on legs so that air can circulate underneath it.
The aim is to stop the chicken nesting, she has no bedding material to make into a nest, she cools down and she tends to stand more than sit so very soon she is back to normal. This usually takes about four to six days and as Poppy has not experienced it before I hope she will soon be out of her grump and back to being the nice little bird we are used to.
As she hasn't eaten much, choosing to 'swoosh' her food out of her bowl when Luke twice filled it, I was concerned that she wouldn't eat enough so last night I lifted the lid of her cage and put my hand close enough to drop some seed into the empty bowl. With that the little blighter jumped up and pecked me on the hand - not a friendly bird at all.
This morning though she must be hungry as I've put some pellets into her bowl (dropped from a greater height this time) and she has eaten a few of those. She still grumbles if we or the other hens go near her so it will be a day or two still for her solitary confinement. Not a great process but she will be pleased to be back to normal, I'm sure - as will we all.
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