We got our first chickens this past April: 7 full-size hens, and 4 straight run bantams. All day-old chicks brooded together. 3 of the bantams turned out to be cockerels and just one pullet, our sweet Gerutha. All game bantams. The 11 birds have been happily free ranging on our 2.5 acres in Vermont, and come home to roost in their coop at night.
On September 19 we culled Feng, our alpha who had started showing aggression towards our toddler. About two days later, Gerutha stopped coming home at night. We assumed a hawk got her (being the most athletic of our birds, we did not think she would be the first to fall prey to a land mammal). But after two nights away, I found her the next morning outside the coop when I went to open up. I saw her with the others later in the day too. However, she still did not come home to roost. I saw her again yesterday, about a week after the first sighting. She looked haggard, skinny, and her comb was flopped over. I brought her some food which she ate. About five other birds came over and she was with them for awhile but then disappeared within 30 minutes.
I think I underestimated the relationship between Gerutha and Feng. I knew he was her boyfriend, but I didn’t know if chickens or bantams were ever monogamous (he mated the other pullets, of course, but she did seem to have a special relationship with him as the only bantam pullet). I suspect she has found the pile of his feathers that my husband left in the woods and is hanging around there (I still need to have him verify this since I don’t know where it is exactly). I have heard that brooding hens’ combs flop over; but do their combs also flop over from other causes like malnutrition or stress? Is it possible she is brooding eggs out there at this untimely season?
I’m wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and could shed light on this behavior, and maybe give us hope that she will eventually move on from her grief and come back to the flock before cold weather sets in and/or she succumbs to hunger or predation.
On September 19 we culled Feng, our alpha who had started showing aggression towards our toddler. About two days later, Gerutha stopped coming home at night. We assumed a hawk got her (being the most athletic of our birds, we did not think she would be the first to fall prey to a land mammal). But after two nights away, I found her the next morning outside the coop when I went to open up. I saw her with the others later in the day too. However, she still did not come home to roost. I saw her again yesterday, about a week after the first sighting. She looked haggard, skinny, and her comb was flopped over. I brought her some food which she ate. About five other birds came over and she was with them for awhile but then disappeared within 30 minutes.
I think I underestimated the relationship between Gerutha and Feng. I knew he was her boyfriend, but I didn’t know if chickens or bantams were ever monogamous (he mated the other pullets, of course, but she did seem to have a special relationship with him as the only bantam pullet). I suspect she has found the pile of his feathers that my husband left in the woods and is hanging around there (I still need to have him verify this since I don’t know where it is exactly). I have heard that brooding hens’ combs flop over; but do their combs also flop over from other causes like malnutrition or stress? Is it possible she is brooding eggs out there at this untimely season?
I’m wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and could shed light on this behavior, and maybe give us hope that she will eventually move on from her grief and come back to the flock before cold weather sets in and/or she succumbs to hunger or predation.
), and today I was able to follow her to her secret nest, with the sweetest clutch of about 8 eggs. I will go back out later when I have DH’s help to gather up her and her nest.
