Not about food -- about live chickens
May. 28th, 2012 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susan8020Well, I hope they're still alive, wherever they are....
Our second flock of free range chickens has flown the coop.
A couple of years ago, my partner mentioned to a neighbor that he missed the sound of roosters crowing that he'd grown up with. The neighbor showed up hauling a broken down homemade coop with a rooster that needed a home. We scrambled to fix the coop and accomodations. A few days later when we were coming home we met the rooster marching along the highway, looking back and forth, going "Meep? ... Meep?" Obviously looking for a flock.
So we got two hens. First tried a local "animal rescue ranch" (that's another story). Then successfully bought two from another neighbor. We did more scrambling to patch together a better coop, with laying boxes etc. They all settled down happily, very sweet devoted rooster (details on request).
The first neighbor kept turning up with hens needing a home (we refused any more roosters). All went well till one of the new hens went broody (look it up). People told us to dunk her in cold water but that sounded cruel and made no sense. Instead we tried blocking the laying box she was using. She moved to another laying box. With many false starts and fumbles, we blocked all the laying boxes. Three older hens suddenly disappeared. Later we leaned they had gone into the woods to nest: we found their bones. People told us chickens are easily offended, don't like disruption.
The rooster stayed with the remaining hens. Slowly people gave us more hens that needed homes, and showed us how to unbroody them (yes, cold water, then a cool cage with no straw), which we did as needed for a year or so.
Near Valentine's Day of 2011, we began losing a couple of hens each week: midday, pile of feathers as she left the laying box to catch up with the rest of the free ranging flock. Big ethical debate with partner, who does not believe in confining animals. Finally I solved it: "Let's build them some safe areas but leave them an exit, let them choose whether and when to stay in."
Apparently it was a land-based predator such as a coyote or bobcat. We added a fly-in door for the coop and a jungle type rope bridge to a safe area. That system is still working fine for over a year.
Last week two hens went broody. We were too busy with other homestead crises to un-broody them immediately. So that was two of three laying boxes occupied by broody hens, and five un-broody hens waiting their turn.
Last night only one chicken came home to roost. The others, including the rooster, have gone.
This morning one relatively new hen came back. We were going to listen for the rooster crowing, hopefully somewhere nearby. But we were up so late last night worrying and making resolutions, that we slept through cockcrow time this morning.
I'm going to drink some Easy Now herb tea. St. John's Wort seems inappropriate.
Our second flock of free range chickens has flown the coop.
A couple of years ago, my partner mentioned to a neighbor that he missed the sound of roosters crowing that he'd grown up with. The neighbor showed up hauling a broken down homemade coop with a rooster that needed a home. We scrambled to fix the coop and accomodations. A few days later when we were coming home we met the rooster marching along the highway, looking back and forth, going "Meep? ... Meep?" Obviously looking for a flock.
So we got two hens. First tried a local "animal rescue ranch" (that's another story). Then successfully bought two from another neighbor. We did more scrambling to patch together a better coop, with laying boxes etc. They all settled down happily, very sweet devoted rooster (details on request).
The first neighbor kept turning up with hens needing a home (we refused any more roosters). All went well till one of the new hens went broody (look it up). People told us to dunk her in cold water but that sounded cruel and made no sense. Instead we tried blocking the laying box she was using. She moved to another laying box. With many false starts and fumbles, we blocked all the laying boxes. Three older hens suddenly disappeared. Later we leaned they had gone into the woods to nest: we found their bones. People told us chickens are easily offended, don't like disruption.
The rooster stayed with the remaining hens. Slowly people gave us more hens that needed homes, and showed us how to unbroody them (yes, cold water, then a cool cage with no straw), which we did as needed for a year or so.
Near Valentine's Day of 2011, we began losing a couple of hens each week: midday, pile of feathers as she left the laying box to catch up with the rest of the free ranging flock. Big ethical debate with partner, who does not believe in confining animals. Finally I solved it: "Let's build them some safe areas but leave them an exit, let them choose whether and when to stay in."
Apparently it was a land-based predator such as a coyote or bobcat. We added a fly-in door for the coop and a jungle type rope bridge to a safe area. That system is still working fine for over a year.
Last week two hens went broody. We were too busy with other homestead crises to un-broody them immediately. So that was two of three laying boxes occupied by broody hens, and five un-broody hens waiting their turn.
Last night only one chicken came home to roost. The others, including the rooster, have gone.
This morning one relatively new hen came back. We were going to listen for the rooster crowing, hopefully somewhere nearby. But we were up so late last night worrying and making resolutions, that we slept through cockcrow time this morning.
I'm going to drink some Easy Now herb tea. St. John's Wort seems inappropriate.
