Chickens.

they do indeed look great fine feathered friends you have there Rusty

 

Gorgeous girls Rusty

 

Hi All,

I have stump grinding on the floor of the chuck run, and they seem to have gone very dusty in the last couple of weeks. I am thinking that this is not good, so I want to replace them. I think I am going to replace straw. Does anyone else use straw?

Rusty

 

I don't use straw.

When I had a walk in run (and a different budget) I would use Arboise on the run floor. Now, I am back to using bark chippings. The girls scrape it back for grub finding/dust bathing and then ... scrape it back again

With straw, they would struggle to dust bathe, plus, they may try to eat it and may end up crop bound?

 

Very unhappy broody hen. I read on the internet about putting her in a cage for 3 days or so. Does this look about right to break her?

 

Oh goodness I have a broody hen too! Nora is a miserable old woman at the moment! Yes your lady will be fine in the cage, obviously make sure her water is changed everyday, (but you know that). I'm lifting Nora out of the nesting box as often as I can, hubby is also lifting her off, when I got home tonight I left the nest box lid off & the door open, she wasn't interested in going in there then! I hope for both our sakes they soon return to their normal selves!

 

Had one hen go broody 4 times in one year, after that we've stuck with hybrids that don't go broody.

 

Looks about right.

I have two who are broody at the moment. They went broody a couple of months ago too I don't do the cage thing anymore simply because, the call of "nature" is so powerful, they just go broody again a while later.

I lift them up to collect eggs but that is about as much fuss as I bother with.

 

Nora is still broody, yesterday a friend told me it can last a month! . she's a little devil as soon as I get her up she goes straight back to the nesting box , this morning I took the lid off the nesting box again so she stood on top of the coop shouting, I shouldnt laugh but it was so funny! She's a vicious old woman too she pecks my hands when I lift her out! ......the saga continues!

 

When one of my hens goes broody I partition off a corner of the run with some spare wire netting and leave her in there all day until she's cured.

My daughter calls it 'chicken prison'.

 

It can So: 28 eggs lost

Thick gloves

She's not wrong!

 

I picked Nora up tonight & gave her a cuddle, that went down really well . She's eaten some very sloppy porridge I'm worried about her in this heat not eating or drinking I will get back for lunch tomorrow so I can feed her then & get her out....worry worry fret fret!

 

Please, do not worry and fret!

I can promise you that she *is* eating, she *is* drinking ... just *not* when you are looking! This is precisely how they would appear to be behaving when they have chicks - you simply do not see them going for a drink or something to eat during the first few days of hatching. But, they are! They are just very quick.

That dash she does when you've taken her off the nest? That's the same dash she will use to go and get fed/watered and return to the eggs.

They're not stoopid just doing what nature intended (and nature does let them have time off for good behaviour so they can feed and water themselves).

Don't believe me? Ok, take a peek and see how many poohs are in that nest box. Not just any pooh mind, I'm talking the cricket ball sized first-thing-in-the-morning poohs!! (And imagine 28 days of *that* building up in the nest )
None? Thought not; now, why would that be?

Hope that has put your mind at rest

 

Thanks mum (@"M" )
She's up this morning, standing on the top of the coop shouting!

 

Aww, bless her.
Wonder if she's shouting: "Oi! You thieving wotnames, bring my eggs backs!!"