More chicks..

Just before Christmas two of our hens went broody at the same time and snuggled up into a nest together, hopelessly incubating infertile eggs. After the hen/rabbit massacre by the neighbours dogs just a few weeks before, we were less than excited about the prospect of having to care for more potential victims. It seemed like strange timing on their part but then I started to wonder if trauma might spark those sorts of instincts. I read an article about people rushing to have kids after the September 11 tradgedy and although there´s not much of a parallel to draw there, it made me wonder if maybe Jenny and Whitney just decided that life´s too short!

In the end we asked our friend if he could give us just a few fertile eggs from his hens to satisfy our hens maternal instinct and left them to it, free-range style, no separation from the others, no special feed, just popped the eggs under and forgot about them. As you would expect, three weeks later the squeaking and cheeping drew our attention and five of the six chicks had hatched out although one unfortunately got crushed by the neighbouring hens trying to get into the nesting box. Tony picked up the egg left behind once the mother hens had abandoned the nest and noticed that it had a little chip in it and little cheaping sounds were coming from inside so we took it inside, popped it on a hot water bottle and watched it hatch out all afternoon before sneaking it under the mum at night. The next day she didnt even seem to have noticed and was bossing him around just like the others.

The major downside to having broody hens and/or chicks on the go is the lack of eggs. Especially if the broody hens are sitting in the nest boxes of the other hens.  It seems that the more dominant hens just push the broody ones off and lay there anyway, sometimes crushing the eggs or chicks and at first we thought that the more timid hens just went off laying to avoid conflict because the egg production went right down for that whole time. That was my top theory until yesterday when I went outside to see what one of the hens was screeching about (as they sometimes do - for no appartent reason) and I noticed that she was almost completely hidden in some long grass. On closer inspection, it turned out that she was teetering on top of a pile of 25 eggs, attempting to add to the collection! Having been driven out of the nest boxes, it seems the younger hens found a new spot which is great news for us and even greater news that when we tested them in water, none of them float, meaning they are all good to eat still.

Scrambled eggs, omeletes and french toast all round!