It was bound to happen. When I acquired three hens, that meant I acquired females. And that means hormones. And that means nothing but trouble. Are you with me, ladies??
One of my hens has gone broody. Her body wants badly to lay on eggs and hatch them. There's just one problem with that plan though. It's not possible for my hens to lay fertile eggs. You need a rooster and that ain't happenin'. First of all I'm already breaking city codes by having chickens in my back yard and second of all, neighbors would probably complain about the crowing, setting off issues with the subject of the first reason. And thirdly, well, I don't want a rooster, thank you very much.
So, because there's no rooster, the eggs don't get fertilized and we can't have babies. I know! Isn't that the saddest thing you've ever heard? Just come on over and I'll show you sad! I was so worried about the poor Rock that I even checked on Craig's List about buying a fertile egg for her to lay on and hatch. The lady from the ad didn't even laugh at me when I called her but gave me several reasons why that's not a good idea, one being that the fertile egg might turn into, you guessed it, a rooster. Huh! Hadn't thought of that.
The Rock doesn't seem to be as bothered as much today but I'm trying to keep her out of the nesting box as much as possible and get her through this depressing and "broody" time. I read online that you can dunk the hen in cold water to help her get over it. Are you kidding me??? Some man had that bright idea is what I'm thinking!!
And yesterday when I was figuring all this out, I noticed that the Rock and the Buff both were pecking all under their feathers as if they were itching like crazy. Mites!! I'd read about them before I got chickens but learned that if you only had a few and if they were able to "bathe" enough then the liklihood of getting mites was minimal. Well, so much for that theory. Actually, I'm not even sure they've got mites but while I was in crisis mode I thought I'd just add to the female drama and go all the way. So last night Bob caught the Buff (he's my hero!), I took her by the legs and turned her over, and she just hung there. Weird! Turns out when they're upside down they're very docile. Who'da thunk? (I know that you're wishing there were pictures right about now but I'm sorry to say that we were otherwise occupied so, sadly, there are none.) Anyway, one by one, we sprinkled the hens with mite powder and, after cleaning out the nesting boxes and sprinkling them well, hopefully we've taken care of the potential but maybe nonexisting mites. One can only hope, right?
I do have one picture of the oh so uncomfortable and grumpy Rock just trying to get some peace while I keep opening the door of the nesting boxes to shoo her off. Poor thing! Maybe her system will get back to normal soon.
