FunClucks
Crowing
So, I bred some olive eggers this past year and decided to keep one. She's turned out to be a bit cracked-in-the-head. Instead of using the semi-private nest boxes everyone else is content to use (4 nest boxes ought to be enough for 8 laying hens, at least, that's what I thought), she has chosen underneath the poop tray as the preferred location. You'd think this wouldn't be an issue other than weird location and access issues, but this particular poop tray isn't actually attached to anything. It's like this teeter totter at the moment, and she's chosen to set and lay under one end of it, so whenever a bird flies up onto the poop board before they fly up onto the perch, they will land on top of her, and multiple chickens could fit on that poop board. Plus then the eggs crack...
I discovered this because I saw black tail feathers poking out where no feathers should ever be. And then after removing the poop board, there was the chicken, all scrunched down. My heart was in my throat. I thought she was injured or smashed to death, but no, she was just crouched down on top of a recently laid egg, with a recently smashed and eaten one a few inches away. I can imagine just what happened to that egg - there were no peck marks, but large-scale fracture.
To make this story even crazier, I suspect she wasn't just laying her eggs under the poop board, she was laying them in the very corner. There is a hole in the corner, where any laid eggs could drop a couple feet onto the dirt below. I'm pretty sure this was indeed what was happening, because we'd been finding the olive eggs at the very corner at the end of the perch, where two pallets meet but have come apart a bit due to age and wear. I though this hen was shoving her butt between the two boards to lay because of how far I had to reach to get them, or nesting right at the corner and scratching them in there, but no. She was laying beneath the poop board, they were falling down, and then rolling to the edge of the opening outside the perch. This would explain me having to reach inside the closed-off-under-the-perch area to retrieve the eggs, and the occasional cracks we've had in them.
What the heck random chicken!!! Why would you do this!!!!!!!!
So I blocked the hole under the poop board with a paving stone tall enough to hopefully keep my hen from being squashed to death when the others land on top of the poop board, put another stone or two towards the front to keep the board up there also, and wouldn't you know that hen just wanted to go right back in there? I have pictures to show this process.
Olive egger deciding to go back under:
Sassy is thinking about following the olive egger, but eventually decides against it:
And for bonus fun, her olive colored eggs blend right in with the dirt. The place we've been finding the eggs:
And the troublesome egg color:
Olive egger now completely under the poop board, after my modifications:
It's been a struggle getting my kids to find and collect these at the random back corner of the perch, now I have to get them to lift up the poop board and rummage around under there - an even higher ewwww factor. Why did I want an olive egger again? This hen is just not right...
I've been looking for a name for her, now that I've decided to keep her (she's a quite pretty FBCM mix and doesn't like me much but doesn't scream blue murder when I pick her up, and her eggs are nice), but haven't found anything that sufficiently describes her cracked-in-the-head self yet. Any suggestions? Maybe I should call her Accident, because so far it seems she is just an accident waiting to happen...
Named flock member are the following, if that helps:
Brown Sugar
Ativan (because petting her calms you down),
Onyx Blende
Chestnut
Sassy
Peeps-a-lot (because she did as a chick)
Matilda
I discovered this because I saw black tail feathers poking out where no feathers should ever be. And then after removing the poop board, there was the chicken, all scrunched down. My heart was in my throat. I thought she was injured or smashed to death, but no, she was just crouched down on top of a recently laid egg, with a recently smashed and eaten one a few inches away. I can imagine just what happened to that egg - there were no peck marks, but large-scale fracture.
To make this story even crazier, I suspect she wasn't just laying her eggs under the poop board, she was laying them in the very corner. There is a hole in the corner, where any laid eggs could drop a couple feet onto the dirt below. I'm pretty sure this was indeed what was happening, because we'd been finding the olive eggs at the very corner at the end of the perch, where two pallets meet but have come apart a bit due to age and wear. I though this hen was shoving her butt between the two boards to lay because of how far I had to reach to get them, or nesting right at the corner and scratching them in there, but no. She was laying beneath the poop board, they were falling down, and then rolling to the edge of the opening outside the perch. This would explain me having to reach inside the closed-off-under-the-perch area to retrieve the eggs, and the occasional cracks we've had in them.
What the heck random chicken!!! Why would you do this!!!!!!!!
So I blocked the hole under the poop board with a paving stone tall enough to hopefully keep my hen from being squashed to death when the others land on top of the poop board, put another stone or two towards the front to keep the board up there also, and wouldn't you know that hen just wanted to go right back in there? I have pictures to show this process.
Olive egger deciding to go back under:
Sassy is thinking about following the olive egger, but eventually decides against it:
And for bonus fun, her olive colored eggs blend right in with the dirt. The place we've been finding the eggs:
And the troublesome egg color:
Olive egger now completely under the poop board, after my modifications:
It's been a struggle getting my kids to find and collect these at the random back corner of the perch, now I have to get them to lift up the poop board and rummage around under there - an even higher ewwww factor. Why did I want an olive egger again? This hen is just not right...
I've been looking for a name for her, now that I've decided to keep her (she's a quite pretty FBCM mix and doesn't like me much but doesn't scream blue murder when I pick her up, and her eggs are nice), but haven't found anything that sufficiently describes her cracked-in-the-head self yet. Any suggestions? Maybe I should call her Accident, because so far it seems she is just an accident waiting to happen...
Named flock member are the following, if that helps:
Brown Sugar
Ativan (because petting her calms you down),
Onyx Blende
Chestnut
Sassy
Peeps-a-lot (because she did as a chick)
Matilda
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