Sebright Bantam Hen Suddenly Aggressive?

[ClareScifi]

My little girl's name is Merry Etta. She IS a lot of fun. Thanks for caring about my little hen, Chickens 4 Ever. I hope your chickens are fine, too.

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Thanks! Thats an adorable name!!!

 

[ClareScifi]

Thank you. She is named for my friend.

Last night she perched on a part of the door frame, so I left the coop door open. It opens into a secure run, so I thought maybe by leaving the door open the rooster would crow less because he'd have the run to play in upon awakening.

However, winds started up in the middle of the night, and I was afraid it might be too drafty in the coop with the door open. So I got up but Merry Etta wouldn't budge from her beloved new perch. So I shut the door as far as I could without mashing her cute little tail and put blankets up over the crack to shield her from the wind.

When I got up this morning the blankets had blown down, but all the chickens seemed fine. I hope they didn't get too chilled. They are all eating and drinking well this morning.

Always something! I suppose I could have grabbed her and put her in the coop last night, but she seemed so happy on her perch and I was afraid I'd stir up the rooster and he'd start crowing in the middle of the night, irritating the neighbors. I also worried I might knock Merry Etta off the perch or accidentally drop her or stress her. If she fell, an egg might break inside her, so I decided to just leave her be and put up the blankets.

I hope she didn't catch a cold. So many things to worry about, constantly!

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Oh wow!! Im sure she's fine, it takes a lot for a chicken to get cold.
But you should pay close attention to her! If you drop a chicken or something did you say the
egg could crack inside her or something??? Thats interesting! I hope Mary Etta is ok!

 

[ClareScifi]

Yes, if they fall or you drop them and there's an egg inside them, it can break and cause all kinds of problems. Scary!

Merry Etta laid her egg this morning. She does seem fine. Buttery Blanche laid a GIANT, HUMONGOUS egg. She's half white leghorn and lays these beautiful eggs, perfect for dying.

I just pickled Merry Etta's little Bantam eggs for the church potluck tomorrow. Hard-boiled them and then put them in a giant jar of pickle juice with some pickles still left in it (both dill and sweet pickle juice poured together). I hope they have enough time to flavor up by tomorrow when the potluck is. I am debating putting a dried chili pepper in with them. I think I will.

I am hardboiling Saffrenee's eggs and Esther Mary's eggs for deviling for the potluck. The preschoolers will help me sprinkle the deviled eggs with lots of paprika, and then we'll put on black cake confetti "ladybug spots" and display them on my new ladybug shaped and colored deviled egg tray. I think we'll put some of the pickled egg in ladybug-shaped Easter egg containers and set them in the holes on the ladybug tray, for fun.

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Oh thats so cool! That sounds like fun! Wow I never knew that if you dropped your chicken that the egg would crack inside them! SCARY! What kind of problems happen? I should definitely be very careful knowing that fact!! Well have fun at the potluck! What state do you live in? I live in Pennsylvania!

 

[ClareScifi]

Chickens 4 Ever,

The link below talks about how if a chicken is mishandled early in the morning, right before she lays her egg, that is when it will be most likely to break and cause her problems:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-treat-egg-binding-in-chickens.html

My girl who lays the biggest eggs, huge white ones, had trouble getting up on her perch tonight for bed. I think she misjudged the distance or something. She caught herself with her feet, hanging on with them,and didn't have a bad fall, but landed on a lower perch, but still, I'm worried. I hope it won't cause her a problem. She's such a sweet girl. This is Buttery Blanche. I don't know how she manages to lay such huge eggs. I worry about this, because they might get caught inside her, due to their size, causing egg-binding.

I think she's too fat to fly up to that perch as easily as the rooster and smaller hen do.

Esther Mary, my Barred Rock, doesn't even try to do so. I think she knows it's too hard for her to do so. The little Bantam could easily fly up there, but she chooses not to do so.

They each have distinct perching preferences.

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Ohhhh. You could help he get on her perch at night. Do you have a lower perch that she could easily get to?
What is egg-blinding? I have never heard of it. WOW!! I bet it is kind of hard laying monstrous eggs all the time!
Sorry, how many chickens do you have again> I have 2.

 

[ClareScifi]

We are going to build a step up to the perch this afternoon. The perch is 4 feet high, which is too high, and could cause bumblefoot.

I measured and the top of the nesting box is 17" which is about perfect for roosting, but only 2 of them like to roost there. I have 5 chickens total. The rooster and the 2 white girls like to be up high at night. But if we make a nice wide platform at 17" from which they can fly up to the 4' roost, that will be better, requiring them to jump only 31" either way. I am also going to put a whole bunch of pine shavings down, so they have deep litter to jump into to cushion their jump.

Whether they'll actually use the step to get to their perch, I don't know, but it's worth a try, and some of them could perch on the new step at night, if they wanted.

I am happy to report Buttery did lay her egg fine today. She is the one who had the trouble ascending her perch last night. It's not nearly as big as some of her other eggs, but at least it wasn't broken and came out okay. Buttery is flighty, so it would be very difficult to catch her at night to help her up to her perch or to know the time she was going to fly up to it so I could be there to catch her. They go to bed at different times at night and I'm not always home to help them.

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Oh cool! So thats nice! Sorry, but..... what is bumblefoot? Thats good Buttery laid her egg and she was fine! I was taking pics with my one chicken Cheep yesterday!
She loves posing for the camera, so thats what makes it fun

Do you ever just take some time and really get to know your chickens. Like of course you know them
but like just take a break and do fun stuff with them? I LOVE doing that!

I also give my chickens baths in the summer on really hot days, have you ever tried that? They are all nice and clean after that. They don't necessarily like it
but I wrap them and towels and lay the in the sun and pet them ( they love that part to death! Especially Peep, she loves just relaxing there. Cheep not so much,
she is always squirming to get out of the towels to go fluff her feather! HAHA