Texas

[harley1975]

Good Morning Harley!

When I use it, it means 'Dear Husband/Darling Husband'.

Lisa

Thanks Lisa I was just checking cause I call my son in law DH and I was starting to worry that all you lady's was using that same term for your husbands!

 

[Heidisgran]

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[hungnguyen]

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Remind me of a great movie I saw when first came to this country .... Smokey and Bandits

 

[Teri Metcalf]

We have an interesting situation. Our motley flock of a dozen or so chickens that we share with our neighbors is free range. Currently five of our girls sleep in our henhouse. We lock them up at night, and let them out each morning. For the past week, a 3-year-old hen stays indoors all day as well. She doesn't seem ill, and she seems perfectly content to be in there with food and water. The other day I noticed that on the back of her head and neck, there are a bunch of feather stubs. It appears that she had been repeatedly pecked there.

So I'm guessing that she has simply gone under cover to protect herself.

Is this behavior familiar to anybody?

 

[erikk]

We have an interesting situation. Our motley flock of a dozen or so chickens that we share with our neighbors is free range. Currently five of our girls sleep in our henhouse. We lock them up at night, and let them out each morning. For the past week, a 3-year-old hen stays indoors all day as well. She doesn't seem ill, and she seems perfectly content to be in there with food and water. The other day I noticed that on the back of her head and neck, there are a bunch of feather stubs. It appears that she had been repeatedly pecked there.

So I'm guessing that she has simply gone under cover to protect herself.

Is this behavior familiar to anybody?

Is she just hanging out in the coop scratching around and acting like a chicken or has she decided to go broody and stays sitting on a nest? In my flock I've noticed the lowest pecking order hen does get pecked at the back of the neck by other birds. It annoys me but she regrew all the feathers after the fall molt.

In answer to your question I'd say it just depends on your hen's behavior. If she's just scratching all over the coop maybe she decided to forage on her own where she won't be bothered. If she's checking out the nests or sitting in one then she might be broody or thinking about it. This morning I checked my in-coop WiFi camera to see if the auto-door had opened and saw one of my silkies spend 15 minutes checking out one next box then another. She then moved into one for about ½ hour before finally leaving and joining the flock outside. My guess for my hen is that she's thinking about going broody but may not be sure about the decision. I have been leaving some fake and some real eggs in the favorite laying box hoping one of my silkies would go broody soon. I have 2 silkies left and they've both brooded and raised eggs/chicks. Had a doggie-chicken massacre recently and I'm wanting a broody hen for either some of the still-fertile eggs being laid or to raise some day-old chicks from the feed store.

 

[Teri Metcalf]

Is she just hanging out in the coop scratching around and acting like a chicken or has she decided to go broody and stays sitting on a nest? In my flock I've noticed the lowest pecking order hen does get pecked at the back of the neck by other birds. It annoys me but she regrew all the feathers after the fall molt.

In answer to your question I'd say it just depends on your hen's behavior. If she's just scratching all over the coop maybe she decided to forage on her own where she won't be bothered. If she's checking out the nests or sitting in one then she might be broody or thinking about it. This morning I checked my in-coop WiFi camera to see if the auto-door had opened and saw one of my silkies spend 15 minutes checking out one next box then another. She then moved into one for about ½ hour before finally leaving and joining the flock outside. My guess for my hen is that she's thinking about going broody but may not be sure about the decision. I have been leaving some fake and some real eggs in the favorite laying box hoping one of my silkies would go broody soon. I have 2 silkies left and they've both brooded and raised eggs/chicks. Had a doggie-chicken massacre recently and I'm wanting a broody hen for either some of the still-fertile eggs being laid or to raise some day-old chicks from the feed store.

She doesn't seem to be broody. She moves around, and doesn't show much interest in the eggs that others come in a lay. Sometimes she's up on a nest box, and other times she's on the floor. She had a daughter a year or so ago. And that leads to another question. Our hens that go broody and have babies only seem to do so once. Is the one time family common?

 

[ClovisMan]

Quote: You have a wifi camera in your coop? Wowzers!

 

[erikk]

Our hens that go broody and have babies only seem to do so once. Is the one time family common?

I can only speak for my own experience and what I believe to be correct from my researching. Others are invited to post their thoughts.

In my case my Silkies go broody whenever they feel like it. Last summer 1 went broody 3 times. First time we broke her of it, next time after 2 weeks of determined broodiness we gave her some day-old chicks to raise. The third time she was joined by two other silkies who collectively sat on two nests of fertile eggs and hatched 4 of 6 and then co-mothered them. All 3 silkies are hand-me-downs believed to be at least a couple years old if not far more. I lost the first silkie to a recent doggie kill-fest. The remaining two silkies did hatch eggs and co-mother last fall.

I believe in general, some breeds are more prone to go broody. Going broody is extremely demanding physically. The lack of exercise, sunshine, and prolonged nest sitting with infrequent food, water, and bathroom breaks results in the broody hen losing weight or worse. It takes time after hatching for the hen to raise the chicks. After about 6 weeks (in my experience), the hen(s) decide the chicks are no longer babies and she starts ignoring them. She'll no longer call out food for them and may not act to defend them from perceived threats. At this point she's done being mom and needs to rebuild her own body and strength.

It could be that your hen who went broody last year didn't get fully recovered before the year ended and the broodiness instinct goes away or diminishes in the winter. As with my silkie who's gaining increased hormone levels with the longer days, your hen may be having hormonal changes that may induce her to go broody if she's physically fit.

I hope others can add more, but this describes my experiences and thoughts.

 

[erikk]

You have a wifi camera in your coop? Wowzers!

Lol, yea. It may even be something you can reach from the internet. Try chickens.kiehle.com

We set it up when we got the auto-door opener before traveling out of state for Christmas. We were concerned if the coop door didn't open the birds would be crowded and unable to get food and water. With a camera we could check and if problems arose we could call a neighbor to intervene. After the string broke twice on the coop door opener we just got a neighbor kid to make sure they had food, water, and open/close the coop while we were gone. I finally (this weekend!) got the coop door string fixed again, timer set, and for good measure set up the camera again. I don't think we'll ever break even on the money we spent for the coop, auto-door, and camera but it makes the wife happy and the chickens are entertaining. A couple roosters also turned out very tasty, so it's not all money lost.

 

[TexasLisa]

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Ooooh yeah--heart throb of the year!! That movie was definitely a classic!

Lisa )