Yesterday, I was reading for the first time that eggs, when bad, have the ability to eggsplode. Very interesting....but not remarkable, I thought. Silly me.
Today I was moving one of my new banty mom's and her brood of four from the coop to a separate cage adjacent to the run, as a result of bullying by an adult hen who had killed two of their siblings.
I'd left the coop door closed for the entire morning, so the chicks might have a little peace, and I'd provided nesting boxes in the run for the four standard hens that are laying regularly. Hens are, however, creatures of habit as we know, and after much pacing about and refusal to lay anywhere other than in the designated laying area in the coop, they got their way!
I removed Mom 'n chicks and then opened the coop door, but was totally unprepared for the onslaught as the four ladies charged in! As I have another banty sitting on a half dozen or so eggs that are due on 6 October(ish!)I was concerned that the clambering of the hens might disturb the banty, and I was right! She shot off like a rocket as the ladies waded in and as (bad) luck would have it, one jumped into the banty's nesting box and I heard that mini eggsplosion that I hope to never hear again! She's landed on an egg that was green and gooey inside and couldn't possibly smell as bad as it did....but it did!
MAN! That is the stinkiest thing I ever smelled and the fact that the intruder wiped her feet on my arm as she fled was not lost on me or my son, who was alternately laughing and gagging beside me!
Interesting but not remarkable?
Sure...!
Today I was moving one of my new banty mom's and her brood of four from the coop to a separate cage adjacent to the run, as a result of bullying by an adult hen who had killed two of their siblings.
I'd left the coop door closed for the entire morning, so the chicks might have a little peace, and I'd provided nesting boxes in the run for the four standard hens that are laying regularly. Hens are, however, creatures of habit as we know, and after much pacing about and refusal to lay anywhere other than in the designated laying area in the coop, they got their way!
I removed Mom 'n chicks and then opened the coop door, but was totally unprepared for the onslaught as the four ladies charged in! As I have another banty sitting on a half dozen or so eggs that are due on 6 October(ish!)I was concerned that the clambering of the hens might disturb the banty, and I was right! She shot off like a rocket as the ladies waded in and as (bad) luck would have it, one jumped into the banty's nesting box and I heard that mini eggsplosion that I hope to never hear again! She's landed on an egg that was green and gooey inside and couldn't possibly smell as bad as it did....but it did!
MAN! That is the stinkiest thing I ever smelled and the fact that the intruder wiped her feet on my arm as she fled was not lost on me or my son, who was alternately laughing and gagging beside me!
Interesting but not remarkable?
Sure...!
