A broody hen is a hen that wants to nest, but quits laying eggs.
The first time I ever heard about broody hens and how to cure them, I wondered what all the fuss was about. Why bother the girl? Is it really going to hurt losing one egg a day?
And then we got chickens.
Even though we have enough nesting boxes for each hen to have her own, they almost all lay in the same box. Another bird in the box while you need to lay? No problem! Just crawl on top of her.
So now I totally get why broody hens are a problem.
A) She's nesting on ALL the eggs that are being laid. and
B) The other hens eventually get fed up and start trying to lay elsewhere (outside of the hen house).
So sometime this weekend I get the not quite so delightful job of moving the hen from one pen to another (do you want to upset a pecking, broody bird?) to "break her" out of the cycle.
Hopefully pictures will come later.
The first time I ever heard about broody hens and how to cure them, I wondered what all the fuss was about. Why bother the girl? Is it really going to hurt losing one egg a day?
And then we got chickens.
Even though we have enough nesting boxes for each hen to have her own, they almost all lay in the same box. Another bird in the box while you need to lay? No problem! Just crawl on top of her.
So now I totally get why broody hens are a problem.
A) She's nesting on ALL the eggs that are being laid. and
B) The other hens eventually get fed up and start trying to lay elsewhere (outside of the hen house).
So sometime this weekend I get the not quite so delightful job of moving the hen from one pen to another (do you want to upset a pecking, broody bird?) to "break her" out of the cycle.
Hopefully pictures will come later.
Comments
Love and miss you, sweet friend. :)