Since about late September our chickens have been on strike. We fought with them all year about going broody. Once a month each chicken would take it's turn at broodiness. We kept breaking them of it, only to have the cycle repeat. It got old. So by late summer early fall we decided to hell with ya'll just go broody then! I think we collected our last egg sometime the last week of September.
Broodiness was then followed by molting. To which one of my girls is just now growing back feathers. I thought we might loose her for a while there because she was so naked. Everyone has pulled through with a new coat of feathers and no baby chicks (big wonder there as we don't have rooster.)
Yesterday we found this:
It seems as though one of are girls has decided to cross the picket line. We have a scab on our hands! I thought for sure we wouldn't see any eggs from these girls ever again. I intended to put a few of them up for sale as many people are looking for a hen that will go broody. But the rest were going to meet the stew pot by April if they didn't get there act together. Possibly we won't have to worry about that because it looks like we might start seeing some production around here!
I'd love to get some fertilized eggs and stuff them under one of our girls just to see what happens, but I've been unable to find
any locally.
I heard some chicken grumbling a while ago, so there might be two eggs to put in here. I always find it amazing how loud they are after such a long stretch of quiet. At least my girls are quiet when they go broody/molt. They sure complain about egg laying whenever they actually get around to it.
That lone egg! Yikes... Hope the crew get out of their funk soon. Can't imagine you two without your own fresh eggs.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like you need to buy hens that are not broody such a prodution reds or white leghorns. There so many breeds that don't go broody and if they do it is very very rare I should know how broody they are I own/ed all differnt breeds as for egg laying you can try a 100 watt bulb in a brooder light (Wal-Mart 8 bucks) hang it from a rafter in the coop and run it to a timer they need about 4 hours of light before the sun comes up... Good luck to you both.
ReplyDeleteI thought hens don't lay much in the winter?
ReplyDeleteThey usually don't lay too much, but they will lay. Some stop all together, but it's weird that they started laying again in January... mid winter? Who knows with these girs?!
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