Capitanissa
In the Brooder
- Mar 27, 2021
- 2
- 13
- 21
We got 3 beautiful burnt orange/brown laying hens from a friend about a year ago and have been enjoying great eggs most of this year, and learning about their behaviour, they are actually really entertaining and now follow us around, even into the house if the door is open! They don't even understand being "shooed" away as to them, I guess, we are the "good guys" that feed them!
As we know hens won't lay forever, we hope to get one to brood out of the 3, but they all lay in the same egg "box", we have only one box, for now that has been sufficient.
We have had a few hurdles but mostly it has been a good experience, and as we have no predators here on Leros Island, Greece, we let them out for a few hours a day.
They do dig holes and have ruined my small patch of lawn
I have yet to figure this conundrum out, I don't want to have to keep them in and I can't fence my tiny swatch of coveted lawn!
Word to the wise: if you see any Styrofoam around, pick it up, your chickens will choke on it. Some was left over from construction done recently and it nearly choked one of our chickens to death, she actually came to me and "asked" for help (unbelievable as they are not THAT friendly) we saw she was not breathing well and when I set her down, she went limp; we put water down her throat with a little force, and my husband did a sort of heimlich manouver on her, but she did not come around. We put her in a quiet place to die, both very sad that we could not do anything. About an hour later, I thought my husband had taken her away to bury her, when this chicken comes to me (all three look alike so I did not know it was the same one) and I swear, came to thank me, she had come to, and was up and about as if nothing had happened. A few days later we realized that she had swallowed Styrofoam that we found her pecking on and now clear it out religiously.
Our first year with laying hens: rewarding!
As we know hens won't lay forever, we hope to get one to brood out of the 3, but they all lay in the same egg "box", we have only one box, for now that has been sufficient.
We have had a few hurdles but mostly it has been a good experience, and as we have no predators here on Leros Island, Greece, we let them out for a few hours a day.
They do dig holes and have ruined my small patch of lawn
I have yet to figure this conundrum out, I don't want to have to keep them in and I can't fence my tiny swatch of coveted lawn!Word to the wise: if you see any Styrofoam around, pick it up, your chickens will choke on it. Some was left over from construction done recently and it nearly choked one of our chickens to death, she actually came to me and "asked" for help (unbelievable as they are not THAT friendly) we saw she was not breathing well and when I set her down, she went limp; we put water down her throat with a little force, and my husband did a sort of heimlich manouver on her, but she did not come around. We put her in a quiet place to die, both very sad that we could not do anything. About an hour later, I thought my husband had taken her away to bury her, when this chicken comes to me (all three look alike so I did not know it was the same one) and I swear, came to thank me, she had come to, and was up and about as if nothing had happened. A few days later we realized that she had swallowed Styrofoam that we found her pecking on and now clear it out religiously.
Our first year with laying hens: rewarding!
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