A Confused Chicken

This is Patti.

Patti is confused.

Why is Patti confused? Well, it seems the silly little biddy has decided to go broody. When a hen goes 'broody' it means that she feels the urge/need to sit on her eggs and hatch them. Think of it as her biological clock is ticking. Of course, we don't have a rooster, so our eggs won't hatch. No matter how long she sits on them.

So .. where is the confusion part?? Patti won't sit on eggs. She's exhibiting all the signs of being broody - sitting in one spot all day long, refusing to move except for an occasional break for food and water.

When a hen goes broody she will quit laying eggs. Patti has never been a very good egg layer anyway (Cochins are only 'Fair' egg layers), but still. So .. what to do?

We decided that if Mother Nature has told Patti to sit and go broody, we'd allow her to rather than trying the things you can try to get a hen to quit being broody. We also decided that we'd get Patti a few eggs to try and hatch. Think of this as the Spring project you used to do in grade school, hatching chicks and ducklings. We don't plan on keeping the chicks (we'll sell any that do hatch) since we don't need or want any more chickens. We just wanted to let Patti go through the natural experience of hatching some eggs.

Yesterday, I met up with a lady and bought a few eggs for hatching. This means that she does have a rooster, and so hopefully these eggs will hatch if sat on. She was very kind and threw in 3 extra eggs, bringing the number we got to 6. We have 3 Blue Black Splash Orpington eggs & 3 Split Black/Lavender Project Orpington hatching eggs.

So far, however, Patti won't sit on them. I have managed to pick her up and put them on the eggs a couple of times now, but she won't stay on them. We originally put them on the floor of the coop (we don't want potential chicks trying to hop down out of the nest boxes, they're too high), but this morning I moved them into a nest box. Hopefully Patti will figure it out. I picked her up and sat her on the clutch of eggs, even gently nudging one up against her underside. She sat there for a while, but when I went back out just a bit ago, there she was back outside.

This is part of nature though too. We'll see if Patti, or even one of our other biddies, decides to sit on these little eggs. If not, oh well. I'm not sure why Patti is going broody but refusing to sit on eggs, but oh well. Even a confused chicken is worthy of love.

Giddy Moments

This is Patti. Patti is one of our two Partridge Cochin hens, both of whom are named Patti, and both of whom had not yet started laying. We had decided we had to have a Cochin because friends of ours had a Buff Cochin, also named Patti, and she was everyone's absolute favorite hen!! Of course, it was after we placed the order for our cochins (we got partridge to be a little different) that we found out their Patti was really a rooster. In hindsight, if we had known that we would've ordered Buff Cochins as well in the hopes of being able to breed. Of course, by the time our chicks were old enough to go outside, the very beloved Patti had been "lost to the wild." We had gotten two Cochins to make sure we had one that lived to adult-hood, since this was our first time having chickens, we didn't want to run the risk of Murphy's Law. They both of course (Murphy's Law?) lived, and Shannon decided that they both should be named Patti. How can you argue with a 4 year old?
When we decided to get chickens, the question of how many we ultimately wanted was a big one. At first, as I was trying to convince Justin that this was a simply must-have thing, I told him I would be ok with just 3 or 4 hens. After all, we have never been big egg eaters, so why would we need a lot of chickens? Of course, then I looked at all the breeds and types of chickens there are. Then I learned about heirloom chickens, and how breeds of chickens are in danger of going extinct. I checked out breeds that were known for being quiet and calm, as well as good in cold weather. That last one seems to be a very, big, cruel joke, as here we are in mid-February and having days in the mid-60's. But, I digress.
One thing I did notice is that some breeds are more prolific egg layers than others. Since we were now at having 8 birds (instead of 3 or 4), this wasn't too big of an issue. I knew Cochins and Brahmas weren't prolific egg layers, but ~ meh, we aren't big egg eaters! What they DIDN'T tell us in the catalogs is that there is no set time when birds begin laying, and that it can and DOES vary a lot between breeds!!!
Right around the age of 6 months old our Buff Orpingtons began laying. Shortly thereafter we lost a Buff Orpington and a Dark Brahma. We then acquired two Americaunas (ooohh .. they lay blue & green eggs!), who although they were 2 months younger, also began laying right around 6 - 7 months of age. We get almost an egg a day from those two! Our Dark Brahma began laying right before Christmas, at 8 months of age. With the addition of the two Americaunas to replace the two we lost, we are at a total of 6 hens. As of Christmas we were averaging between 2 & 3 eggs a day. As of February 1st we began getting almost 4 eggs a day - not too bad with only 4 of our 6 laying. And this brings us back to our Cochins. I'd read someone post that theirs' didn't start until 9 1/2 months of age.
For those of you who haven't had chickens, the thrill of the first egg is hard to describe. I can only compare it to having a good friend go into labor. I know, comparing a chicken laying an egg to a good friend giving birth is probably a good sign that something is "off" in my head ~ but that is the giddiness that you feel. Everytime you walk out to check on the chickens and suddenly spot a new egg, your body immediately starts doing a happy dance, jumping up and down, dancing around, flailing your arms, and all the while you're just trying to figure out who to call and tell first. You almost don't want to pick it up, for it may ruin the happiness of the moment.

Yesterday I went out to look for eggs, lifted the nest box, and found one of the Pattis sitting in the box, ready to lay an egg. I quickly shut the lid. Then I opened it again. Then I shut it. Then I ran back up onto the deck, where I could look down on the coop and tractor. The other chickens stood at the door to the coop, as if waiting for the moment to happen. They tend to do this whenever one of them is in the nest box, sometimes even going into the coop to wait. I think they feel the excitement too.
I stood up on the deck, listening to them. I know that when a chicken is about to lay an egg, they will make some noise. For those who don't already know, our chickens don't cluck like normal chickens - they tend to make a quacking noise like a duck that kinda sounds like they're laughing at you. So, it made me bubble over with excitement and giddiness when I heard "bwak, bwak, bwak, bwak ... BAWAK!" (that is how I am guessing you type out that chicken noise) ~ This was repeated several times. By now I was beside myself. I saw Patti finally leave, and went down there to look.
The egg on the left in the photo is from Patti. I'm not sure who laid the egg on the right. When I went down there to look after I saw that Patti had left, Bunny (who lays green eggs) was in the box as well. I saw that she had an egg coming out (a kinda cool sight), and gave her a minute. When I looked back in, she was gone and so was the egg. Only Patti's egg was there. I went to take it, but the gals started making a fuss at me. They all suddenly started making that exact noise I (ever so eloquently) desribed above. I must admit it flustered me, and I felt as if I had somehow made a very huge faux-pas amongst the chickens. I left the egg and went back up to the deck. Not good enough, they knew I was up there watching them, and they continued to fuss at me. I finally went inside. Apparently, it isn't good chicken manners to immediately try and confiscate a 1st timer's egg!!
When I went out a little bit later, there was another brown egg laying next to Patti's, and I was able to take the picture. I still was curious about the green egg. It wasn't in the nest box, and wasn't outside. I opened the coop and found it there.
After I had seen Patti's egg, but been unable to take it inside, I did the above-described "Happy Dance." I opted for calling Justin first. Justin who now has 6 chickens to contend with instead of the "maybe 3 or 4". I was very pleased to hear as much excitement in his voice as was in mine. He didn't even roll his eyes at me when I asked him last night if he wanted to see the egg, he excitedly said yes and followed me to the kitchen. Now we're just as eagerly awaiting the day when we go out there to find 6 eggs.

A Wild Day

The chickens have been outgrowing their home in the dining room, so today they moved outside. Justin fixed up the tractor for them, hung their waterer in there, and there they went. So far, they seem to really be loving their new digs. They were quiet and content, flapping about a little bit playing. The only time they started squawking was when they were tired of looking for their own food and wanted to be fed.
They've been calling for rain though, so we put their "nesting box" in there: an old doghouse claimed from the side of the road. They wouldn't go in there on their own, so last night as they were sleeping I had to crawl in through the front & toss them into it. Not the sweetest moment of their night I'm sure, but they needed to know where shelter was.
This first photo is one of our Buff Orpington pullets. A pullet is a hen who is less than a year old. Our chicks were hatched on 4/4/08. The Buff Orpingtons are quickly becoming favorites: their feathers are remaining silky to the touch, they are extremely gentle (they never seem to mind being picked up, and will even relax while being held), and are very quiet.
This next photo is one of our Partridge Cochin pullets. We got the two of them because friends of ours had a much loved Buff Cochin, and we were hoping to breed. Sadly, we just got the news that their Buff Cochin has "taken off" into the woods, never to return home. That was the sweetest damn bird and this news truly is saddening.
Justin has also been working like a mad-man this weekend to build the chickens their coop. He is making fantastic progress, and has two walls now completed. It is turning out to be much tinier than I had anticipated it to be, but in all honesty, we really don't need a huge coop since we don't plan to keep more than 6 or 7 chickens permanantely. I have several photos of it, and several more photos of the chickens in their tractor. I will work on uploading a slideshow of the photos taken this weekend of the progress on the coop, as well as of the chicks in the tractor.