- Mar 24, 2014
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So I'm pretty sure I have my first broody hen. I went back to check on everyone, and I was missing one of my hens. (Buff Orpington, under a year old, so I guess technically a pullet at this point).
So after looking around awhile I finally found her. Next to my property is a ponding basin that has a chain link fence all the way around it. The houses behind my house have their own fences that form the back fence to my back yard, and that fence runs along the back of my yard and then next to the ponding basin fence. So at the back of my property I have a small gap in the corner, and if you squeeze back there it's just a space between two fences that runs for a way before you can't go any further. I have it blocked so the dogs can't get back there, but the chickens do occasionally venture back there. The house behind me has some viny plant that has taken over back there, so I can't hardly even see back there. So after looking around back there, I finally saw her between the fences. Didn't look like she was moving, so I figured she was dead, but I couldn't see any reason for her to be dead, didn't seem to be any distortions or anything to indicate she had gotten caught on anything and broken bones or anything like that. So I figured maybe she was just stuck back there, so I climbed over the fence into the ponding basin, cleared back the plants, and finally got to her. I poked at her to see if she was cold, and she suddenly bit me. So I got a stick through the fence, pushed her around a little bit to make sure she wasn't caught on something and stuck, and finally saw an egg under her.
So now, I have a hen, sitting one egg, between two fences that I can't get between, probably 8 feet back. The chickens and dogs both have free roam of the yard, the dogs treat the chickens ok but I'm not sure how well a new baby would do. It's not in a good spot where I could her her any food or water very close to her, she doesn't have the greatest protection from the weather, and while this is central California we are hitting temperatures close to freezing and we do get very heavy, very wet fog that soaks everything and some rain here and there. All the chickens prefer to sleep in the rain on top of the coop or the run to sleeping inside the coop, but that is off the cold ground, and this hen is, obviously, on the cold ground.
My options, as I see it, are:
1 Leave her. She sits one egg, and if that egg hatches the chicken may not have the best chance of surviving.
2. Figure out a way to hook a looped rope onto a long stick, loop it around her neck, and drag her out. Doesn't seem ideal.
3. Use a stick through the chain link to push her, little bit by little bit, to where I can get her. No idea if this would even work, I had a hard enough time budging her to see that she was sitting on an egg.
4. I could try to dig under the fence where she is at, I'm not sure how far down the fence goes into the ground, it's very old, it's been having leaves and other debris building up around it for a very long time, this might not really work very well.
- Either of these options could still result in her deciding she wants to go back in there, even if I give her some other nest, so I'm guessing I'd have to build her an enclosure I can lock up completely.
Ideas, people? Do I leave her, and try to set up a small fenced off area that she can come into and bring the one baby into just outside the gap so the dogs can't get it? If I do that should I try to fish out the egg she is sitting on and try to give her some new eggs to sit on so I can get more eggs hatching?
So after looking around awhile I finally found her. Next to my property is a ponding basin that has a chain link fence all the way around it. The houses behind my house have their own fences that form the back fence to my back yard, and that fence runs along the back of my yard and then next to the ponding basin fence. So at the back of my property I have a small gap in the corner, and if you squeeze back there it's just a space between two fences that runs for a way before you can't go any further. I have it blocked so the dogs can't get back there, but the chickens do occasionally venture back there. The house behind me has some viny plant that has taken over back there, so I can't hardly even see back there. So after looking around back there, I finally saw her between the fences. Didn't look like she was moving, so I figured she was dead, but I couldn't see any reason for her to be dead, didn't seem to be any distortions or anything to indicate she had gotten caught on anything and broken bones or anything like that. So I figured maybe she was just stuck back there, so I climbed over the fence into the ponding basin, cleared back the plants, and finally got to her. I poked at her to see if she was cold, and she suddenly bit me. So I got a stick through the fence, pushed her around a little bit to make sure she wasn't caught on something and stuck, and finally saw an egg under her.
So now, I have a hen, sitting one egg, between two fences that I can't get between, probably 8 feet back. The chickens and dogs both have free roam of the yard, the dogs treat the chickens ok but I'm not sure how well a new baby would do. It's not in a good spot where I could her her any food or water very close to her, she doesn't have the greatest protection from the weather, and while this is central California we are hitting temperatures close to freezing and we do get very heavy, very wet fog that soaks everything and some rain here and there. All the chickens prefer to sleep in the rain on top of the coop or the run to sleeping inside the coop, but that is off the cold ground, and this hen is, obviously, on the cold ground.
My options, as I see it, are:
1 Leave her. She sits one egg, and if that egg hatches the chicken may not have the best chance of surviving.
2. Figure out a way to hook a looped rope onto a long stick, loop it around her neck, and drag her out. Doesn't seem ideal.
3. Use a stick through the chain link to push her, little bit by little bit, to where I can get her. No idea if this would even work, I had a hard enough time budging her to see that she was sitting on an egg.
4. I could try to dig under the fence where she is at, I'm not sure how far down the fence goes into the ground, it's very old, it's been having leaves and other debris building up around it for a very long time, this might not really work very well.
- Either of these options could still result in her deciding she wants to go back in there, even if I give her some other nest, so I'm guessing I'd have to build her an enclosure I can lock up completely.
Ideas, people? Do I leave her, and try to set up a small fenced off area that she can come into and bring the one baby into just outside the gap so the dogs can't get it? If I do that should I try to fish out the egg she is sitting on and try to give her some new eggs to sit on so I can get more eggs hatching?
