I have devil hens

Hens eating their own eggs – I think this bad habit had started long before winter.  I remember around early fall, we were not getting any substantial number of eggs.  I thought it was just because of the season’s shorter day light.  And there were days not a single egg can be found and I was very disappointed considering the breeds we have are supposed to lay eggs in the winter.  They might have slowed down but it was hard to believe that they've completely stopped laying eggs in the winter.  
 

Then I discovered one day in January while cleaning the nest boxes, a bunch of hens were eating an egg that was just laid.  I desperately tried to stop them but failed.  And it happened again a couple of days later while I was inside the coop.  They even seem to gang up and wait around until a hen lays an egg and then attack the hen that was sitting there.  Even the most protective broody hen (pic below) that will bite you if you come near her could not ward off these pesky egg eaters. 

 I’ve read this behavior can be due to lack of enough food inside the coop, but that is not our case.  They have plenty of feeds inside the coop and always have fresh water outside.  This winter though I’ve placed their water outside and when it’s too cold most chicken won’t go out at all.  So maybe that’s the reason why they feel the need to eat their own eggs for moisture.   

The other reason could be lack of calcium.  So I’ve now been giving them oyster shells on a regular basis to boost their calcium.  And it will make the egg shell stronger therefore less likely to break when they peck on it.  These hens below are eating the oyster shells.  It's amazing they can eat these hard small pebbles of shells.

I’ve been monitoring the flock but the egg eating problem has not stopped at all.  There are more than one perpetrators and I’ve caught them in the act.  I’ve also placed fake marble eggs on their nest so if they try to peck on it hopefully they would realize that it is not tasty but it hasn’t worked at all.  It’s supposed to fool them into stopping the behavior if they are unsuccessful.   They still eat the eggs. 

 

I have been going to the coop at least 3 times a day to check for eggs but I don’t see any.  I had to wait for the hen to lay and retrieve the egg while she was still on the nest one Sunday but I can’t be standing there all day waiting for them to lay eggs.  The thing is during winter they don’t have much room to roam outside so they can get bored and could be what started this nasty egg-eating behavior Maybe they're doing it just for the fun of it. 

 

My last attempt this weekend will be to put a curtain in their nest boxes so they won’t see the hens or the eggs.  And it would also give the hens privacy while they’re trying to lay eggs.  I’ve read this on several websites and blogs.  I can use the feed sacks as curtains or search the house for scrap fabrics or old curtains.  And if this doesn’t work, what do you think?  I might get an incubator and start again.  Maybe time for me to have some fresh chicken stew.  It is getting too expensive not to have any eggs.  If I’m not home they will eat all 8 to 10 eggs in one day.  And it’s a sad reality only the hens are doing this.  If it were the roosters, I would have no problem culling them immediately.

Apple cider vinegar and garlic

I’ve read on the internet that apple cider vinegar is like a natural antibiotic for chickens so I added about a tablespoon in their water about twice a week.  I hope it works.  They need to boost their immune system in the winter.

Also learned garlic is also good for them so I fed them some.  I hope their eggs won’t taste garlicky.  I bought a huge bag (5 lb) of peeled garlic from a Chinese store and I've been so tired of eating garlic every day.  There still so much left so I gave them to the chickens.

I made sure everyone got a bite.

 On a side note, see how bad the roosters are.  They pull the hen's feather (look at the picture above) when they're breeding.  I have decided to cull some of the roosters.  I'm still trying to select which ones and that would be another blog post.

My Special Broody Hen's Only Egg Today

Usually hens are very protective of the eggs they lay.  This one young hen is the complete opposite.  You'll see why in this video.

My first chicken blog of 2015

What else to blog and hopefully enhance my writing skills (if any)?  Chickens.  They add purpose to my life.  Okay call me crazy or maybe I'm having mid-life crisis.

 Chicken ranching in the middle of the winter is not easy.  Our set up is not very efficient since we don’t have electrical power supply at the coop.  It’s too far to run a cable from the house (around 100 feet).  And with the dogs outside, they chew everything if not supervised.  The problem without having power in the coop is that the water freezes within a couple of hours or less.  I’ve been reading some tips online that putting a ping-pong ball on top of the bowl will prevent the water from freezing especially if there’s wind blowing in the air as it will keep the water surface moving.  I will do that this weekend.  So at the moment, I have been going outside at least twice a day bringing warm bowls of water.  And it’s frustrating to see the chicken will tip it over within minutes.  That’s why I said, I had to bring the warm water of water at least twice.  On a bright side, it’s much easier cleaning out the poop inside the coop because they are all frozen and they don’t smell.

The chickens have frost bites on their combs.  There’s nothing I can do about it.  They are birds and no way I can bring them inside the house.  Frost bites on chicken combs are not deadly but it just doesn’t look pretty.  Most chickens are not as active as before due to the very cold weather.  But they go through feeds quite fast because they cannot forage in the fields.

So today, I decided to take a few pictures of the 49 chickens as I was locking them up inside the coop.  This is the best time to document them because they are too sleepy to move around.  There's always that sweet point when they all go inside the coop and it changes as time progresses towards springtime. Last December they were all inside the coop just around quarter to 5 pm (that's when it gets dark). Now it's 5:35 pm. It won't be long when days will be longer again as we progress towards springtime.  Sweaty cat (our outdoor cat) has disappeared for weeks now.  I hope he's fine or found a new home.

So here are a few pictures I took today after I did the head count.  I wasn’t sure how they’re gonna turn out because it was very dark inside the coop but somehow my Olympus tough point-and-shoot camera captured them quite well.  They all seem contented and settled.

This rooster has a unique long tail.  The feather’s colour is split between black and white.  He is definitely a keeper in case I want to hatch some chicks.  He used to be bullied all the time and used to be in a separate cage for a long time.  We had to force him (along with the other peacock feathered rooster not pictured here) to merge with the rest of the group because of the freezing winter.  Somehow he managed to get-along or the rest managed to make him feel included.

 These are Black Australorp hen and rooster.  Birds of the same feather sleep together indeed!

Here’s another example of same chickens with the same feather colours sleep close to each other.  Although it’s not always the case as you will see in the following pictures.

Behind these two chickens on the left is another rooster that I missed in my initial count.  The next picture shows the rooster behind these two who has a bloody comb.  Maybe got picked on by another rooster or just due to the freezing weather.

Everyone’s cozy on the 3-tier roost my husband built made of branches.  They are very docile at night.  I wish the roosts were removable so it would be a lot easier to clean the poop on the floor.  So you can imagine how I had to put my yoga skills to work in order to avoid the nasty poop-covered branches as I crawl underneath.

I was trying to take a group shot but can’t include the ones on the far left next boxes.  There are a total of 12 nest boxes.  Notice the Barred Plymouth Rock (black and white stripes) chickens cuddle together.  Or maybe they’re comfortable with each other since they were part of the last batch of pullets we got them in October.

Here’s the shot showing all 12 nest boxes.  No one wants to sleep on the two lowest boxes on the left.  I guess they all have pride and don’t want to be at the lowest pecking order, haha.

The rooster on the top right is what I call peacock rooster.  He used to be bullied badly by the rest of the group.  I think it’s because of his beautiful feather.  He is very unique and very docile.  He is a keeper.

I moved this hen to one of the nesting boxes or else the feeds will be full of poop.

 
Of course she already did. 

The lowest right hand nest box is very hard to clean because it’s right in front of the permanent 3-tier roost.  And guess what, this is their favourite spot to sleep.  Here, there are 4 chickens but there were times 5 chickens fit in there.

This is just the zoomed out photo of the above.

Hey you, I think you’re squashing the two hens underneath!  They fluff their feathers to keep warm air inside their feathers.

They also cover their heads underneath their feathers to keep it warm.  More pictures showing this below.

This is the best group shot I could get of all 49 chickens.

Saw my 2 hens lay eggs and other stuff from this morning...

I had just witnessed my 2 girls laying eggs while I was cleaning up the coop and nest boxes this morning.  Contrary to the popular belief, the shell was already hard (not soft) and wet while it was coming out of the vent (chicken's anus).  Just before the egg was about to be laid, the hen stuck her butt up and as soon as I saw a light brown tip of the egg, I placed my hand under her butt and caught the egg.  And guess what, as the egg was being laid, the hen made a soft sound almost like a silent fart.  Okay you're probably thinking I have too much time on my hands. J Just coincidence I was inside the coop cleaning the nest boxes.  These 2 hens have been sitting in the nest boxes for a while.  Too bad I didn’t have my camera (obviously).  I was busy with the chores and the gloves in my hands were covered with chicken poo.  What a joy to witness this in real life though.  It makes all the work worth it.  I was ready to complain this morning and started talking to myself “There’s gotta be a better way to make a living than this.”  But to witness 2 hens lay eggs is worth it.  I can cross that out in my bucket list.

When I took the egg immediately after it dropped in my hands, this hen didn't look too happy because I stole her egg.  She's very broody and she was looking for her egg to sit on.

 

Here's the other hen I saw lay her egg this morning.  She didn't care I took it right away.  As soon as she's done laying she went and eat.  That's the hanging feeder.  Those young hens in the background are supposed to use the nest boxes only for laying but they keep using it for sleeping.  I don't know how to stop them from doing that.

It takes about 2 hours in the morning (except if I have to take pictures and blog about it like right now) and about an hour in evening to finish all the chicken chores.  I have nailed all the steps -- from checking and replacing the feeds and water as needed, replacing soiled straw on the floor of the coop, replacing the wood shavings inside the separate 2 small rooster coops.  I prefer wood shavings in the nest boxes than straw because it is much easier to clean.  Nest boxes have to be cleaned daily to keep the eggs clean.

Below are a few random pictures of the chicken and the coop taken just this morning. 

Isn't she so adorable?  She has a lot of character and lays tinted white/greenish egg and a prolific layer.  She can be bitey if you get too close to her.

 

The nest boxes with the hens and rooster (upper right corner) hanging out. We meant to add more roosts but it will make it more difficult to go in and clean the nest boxes on a daily basis.  That one black hen on the roost is missing its tails due to the dog-attack over a month ago.  I released her from the cage today and let her mingle with the rest.



Just released the hen without tail and the other black chicken (and to my disappointment it turned out to be a rooster).  You can tell by the long tail.  These are 2 of the survivors of the dog attack over a month ago.  I still keep an eye on them because the rest of the flock picks on them.

 

Very beautiful birds and extremely timid.



The hanging feeder.

 

This is how it is hung from the ceiling.

 

View from inside the main coop.

 

Those are 2 small rooster coops.  The two roosters in the smaller coop remains caged.  I feel bad for them but everytime I free-range them, they don't come back.  Those two roosters outside the run on the left side are allowed to free-range because they come back at night.

 

Huge rooster guarding the coop.  He's allowed with the hens as he's not as vicious as the others.



I've already fed them but they still want to steal the rooster feeds.

 

Very unique colour.  Pure white tail with reddish brown body.

 



The 'twin' roosters.

Up close.



Tree pose.

I'm cuter than him.



And I can fluff my mane.



On a different note, Sweaty cat (used to be Sweety until we discovered he is male) really thinks he is a chicken.  One of the roosters, was breeding him and he did not even care – just let the rooster do it.  I had to interrupt the whole thing.  Just doesn’t look right.

This is the rooster that was mounting Sweaty cat.