Hurricane Florence survivors!

[KeliD]

Hello,
I live in Onslow County North Carolina and, while Flo was not my first hurricane, this was my first time experiencing a hurricane since owning my flock of chickens.

We had been ordered to evacuate and had no choice but to leave our flock of 16 hens and two Roos during the storm. I filled their feeders, placing them inside their barn and removed the tarp from their yard allowing them to leave the fenced area if needed. I figured if the roof was torn off their barn they could hunker in the woods. I did not want them penned inside to starve or cook while we were gone. Loose, I knew they would forage for bugs in the yard if they ran out of feed before we could get back.

We were gone a week due to flooded roads and towns, but God is good, and we lost none of our chickens and had no damage to our property. I came home to about 80 eggs in the henhouses.

I collected the eggs and since then they have all been acting strange. The head rooster tries to chase me away when I approach the chicken yard and one of the hens has gone broody and will not leave the eggs. She allows the other hens to come into the house with her but tucks any new eggs left under herself and nips at me if I try to take any. I was able to collect 10 eggs today simply because she had no room left under her. (It’s been about 4 days since we got back.)

Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation? I don’t mind leaving her to incubate some eggs to hatching and I can divide off an area of the barn for her to rear some chicks if she wants. I think several of the other hens have either stopped laying or are hiding eggs (though I can’t find where.)

Should I just go ahead and take the eggs or will that just make the hen get mean? If she loses interest in sitting on them before they hatch I’ll have to throw them out because I do not have an incubator.

Just looking for some insight into a behavior I’m not used to in my hens.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Hi! I have no experience with your concerns but did want to say that I am thankful you and the chickens cane out of the storm with no losses. I went through Harvey but didn’t have chickens at that time.
Someone very wise will be by to answer your questions!

 

[KeliD]

Hi! I have no experience with your concerns but did want to say that I am thankful you and the chickens cane out of the storm with no losses. I went through Harvey but didn’t have chickens at that time.
Someone very wise will be by to answer your questions!

Thank you for your thoughts. I know there are many others not so fortunate. I have pledged eggs to help feed some of the volunteers who have generously come to help those who have suffered damage to and loss of their homes. My hens were laying about a dozen eggs a day before the storm. I’m not sure if taking their eggs will get them back to normal sooner or exacerbate their stress.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Probably they're all really stressed out. Treat them gently and try to restore normal routine, hopefully they'll settle eventually.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Who knows really? We can speculate what’s going on in their little minds but no one really knows. I would bet they are out of sorts, and I would hope that they ger themselves sorted soon!

 

[aart]

Glad y'all made it thru.
I'd treat the broody like you would in 'normal' times,
if you want her to hatch set her up where you want her,
if you don't want her to hatch break her broodiness.
No doubt it will take some time to readjust...hope your cockerel knocks it off.

 

[KeliD]

Thank you all for your thoughts. Gus (my rooster) seems to be settling down. His behavior is relaxing with the normal routine restoring. The hen seems more relaxed too. The last couple of times I went out and talked to her and stroked her back she puffed her feathers and chatted at me but allowed me to take eggs. She won’t leave the nest but I have noticed that she’s not so worried about sitting on them. She may be eating some because there was egg goo all over the other eggs the second time she let me collect. Not sure if she had more under her. I’m not gonna assume she’s having trouble unless there’s more reason to think so.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Chickens are creatures of conditioning. They resist change to routine for one or two days, but after that the new becomes the normal. After 7 days the new normal was life without you, so they are resisting what is normal to you. Impose your normal and they will adapt to it.

 

[KeliD]

Chickens are creatures of conditioning. They resist change to routine for one or two days, but after that the new becomes the normal. After 7 days the new normal was life without you, so they are resisting what is normal to you. Impose your normal and they will adapt to it.

Thank you so much for the info. The rest of the flock seems to be falling back into routine and the rooster is settling down. Since we were away they got used to venturing farther away from their own yard (a small portion of my 2-acres) and eating bugs from all over the back yard. I'm ok with that. It's good for them and we could use the insect control after all the creepy crawlies that blew out of the trees in a hurricane.

As fun and educational as it would be for my son see baby chicks hatch for his 5th birthday next month, I have too many other concerns at this point. I'll gently coax the hen off the nest so I can collect all of the eggs and maybe she'll move along. If it takes a few more days, that's ok too.