MJ's little flock

Well, she's sitting again but little coop is still wide open.

I think I'll start putting her on the roost tonight and I'll keep the little coop opened up for a few days. Hopefully that'll be enough to trigger her "I'm not broody" hormone.
Seems like a very reasonable process to wean her.
 
9 minutes later ... well that was not as much stress as I expected :gig

View attachment 2872122

I guess she'll go back to her nest in an hour or so. I'm tempted to mess it up while she's doing other things.
That worked for me once. No hen ever laid in that spot again. It wasn't a real nestbox, but a cozy spot between the wall of the coop and a straw bale.
 
That worked for me once. No hen ever laid in that spot again. It wasn't a real nestbox, but a cozy spot between the wall of the coop and a straw bale.
I recall Shad once said hens will mess up a nest if they're done with it.

In the end, I left the nest alone and she went back to it after 30 minutes of noodling about, and at nightfall I went back out and she rode on my arm, only slightly protesting, to the big fox proof coop which is not in the run. From there, she was bewildered and I didn't want to subject myself to guilt so I went inside for an hour before checking up on her again in the full dark and discovered she had gone up to a roost.

I've only just got up Thursday morning, and she wasn't even tukking. But as the tribe made their way into the run, she started tukking again and now she's sitting in the little coop even though all its doors are open. I'll keep a watchful eye on her today and if I have to carry her into the big coop again this evening, so be it.

The other interesting thing I noticed late yesterday was that her poops aren't broody-style any more, but more nuggetty.
 
One of the legbars.
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The legbars group. They do mix with the other hens and even seem to quite like one or two of them but when they relax it's almost always in their group.

PA200595.JPG
 
Mary update. After sitting for about 30 minutes in the opened up little coop, she got up and is right now picking up a few snacks.
Another update.

I took the car to the mechanic and while I was gone (less than an hour), someone pulled Mary's nest apart.

IMG_2021-10-21-08-46-53-905.jpg


Actually when I first arrived home, Mary was on her feet and it appeared she had put herself on nest de-commissioning duty. But she sat down immediately.

Later, Ivy came by to offer advice.

IMG_2021-10-21-08-48-36-815.jpg


Later still, Janet took her place beside the head lifestyle coach.

IMG_2021-10-21-08-49-40-959.jpg



At this time, Mary is up and taking a dust bath while her friends continue the de-commissioning work.

My interventions were

Open the little coop

Carry Mary to the big coop at nightfall

And that's all. So, I feel like I've hit upon a minimal intervention approach to supporting Mary's transition out of brooding.
 
Another update.

I took the car to the mechanic and while I was gone (less than an hour), someone pulled Mary's nest apart.

View attachment 2872875

Actually when I first arrived home, Mary was on her feet and it appeared she had put herself on nest de-commissioning duty. But she sat down immediately.

Later, Ivy came by to offer advice.

View attachment 2872880

Later still, Janet took her place beside the head lifestyle coach.

View attachment 2872882


At this time, Mary is up and taking a dust bath while her friends continue the de-commissioning work.

My interventions were

Open the little coop

Carry Mary to the big coop at nightfall

And that's all. So, I feel like I've hit upon a minimal intervention approach to supporting Mary's transition out of brooding.
Teamwork!
 

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