Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

It usually works for most of my other birds, but for some reason they throw them out the nest

I don't believe any hens are fooled by fake eggs.

 

[LaFleche]

It usually works for most of my other birds, but for some reason they throw them out the nest

Well, they are infertile, so of course they'll kick them out

 

[fluffycrow]

I don't believe any hens are fooled by fake eggs.

I would agree. Some hens just tolerate them better. Right now I've got a number of them rolling around the property. I really need to throw them away

 

[fluffycrow]

Well, they are infertile, so of course they'll kick them out

I've never heard of non-broody hens kicking eggs out of the nesting box due to them being infertile

 

[Shadrach]

Hey folks, what do you do with a broody hen who sat on a broken egg?

Today there was a tussle and one of Dusty's eggs broke. Somehow Rusty got over or around the privacy screen I put around Dusty's nest and got inside. I heard the squawking and screeching and by the time I got over there, Rusty was running out of the area looking mighty suspicious and Dusty was sitting on her two whole eggs and the remains of the broken one (which looked to be developing )and some of Rusty's feathers in her beak.

I think Rusty is trying to sabotage Dusty's hatch. Rusty had the opportunity to sit and messed it up big time. She's a nice enough little hen, but she really doesn't want Dusty to become a mama and pass her in the ranks.

Tomorrow morning I'll make Dusty's nest area more secure.

Question: I cleaned all the eggy sand and soil out of the nest and replaced it with clean material. I carefully wiped the remaining eggs clean with a soft damp rag.

But what do I do with Dusty? I cleaned the sticky egg goo off her belly, but the feathers on her underside still smell eggy. If I give her a proper bath, she'll go back to her nest wet. I don't have a blow dryer so the best I can do is towel dry her. Is that too wet? I imagine there's bacteria on her feathers from the broken egg that isn't great for the eggs she's still sitting on.

Strip the nest out being very careful of the eggs. I usually put the eggs on the ground so the hen, but more importantly sometimes, the rooster can see them.
I've ahd roosters go for me when stripping out a nest where a hen is sitting. If they can see the eggs while they get stressed it seems to relax them enough not to try and defend them.
Don't wash the eggs. Clean as best you can without washing. Washng can remove the protective bloom on the eggs which hepls keep bacteria out.
I pick what I can off the hens belly and then chuck them in a dust bath.
Try to rebuild the nest with a good dip in the middle and return the eggs.

 

[LaFleche]

I've never heard of non-broody hens kicking eggs out of the nesting box due to them being infertile

I have several hens that will kick out any kind of fake eggs: wooden, porcellain, plastic with or without sand filling, golf ball, plaster, you name it.

But strangely, they would tolerate boiled eggs for a while.

 

[fluffycrow]

I have several hens that will kick out any kind of fake eggs: wooden, porcellain, plastic with or without sand filling, golf ball, plaster, you name it.

Oh, that, yes absolutely. I though you meant actual chicken eggs

 

[Shadrach]

One more thing about nest cleaning. I found that if any egg from a breakage is left in the nest, the ants move in.

 

[BDutch]

A bit of mediation later relations were returned to normal.

I wonder What kind of a session you did as mediator!
Look inyo my eyes?

I looked Fret over and I could see no damage to her feet or legs so I'm hoping it's just a sprain.

I hope so much to see some fluf next week and Fret being agile enough to be an excellent mother.

Acrobats

After 2 weeks with lots of rain, the weather here is finally the way it should in summer. 27C and .

 

[Shadrach]

Henry is moulting and this is likely to make him a bit short tempered.
An off thing. As most of you will know, the roosting sequence is get on the extension roost bar for a while before going into the coop. At first, there was some reluctance to go into the coop at all. Now they stay on the roost bar until I put the pellets in the tray for the morning and sometimes that's been enough to signal it's time to go into the coop. The past few days I've done a crop check last thing and now, once I've done the crop check they make their own way into the coop without any encouragement.