May 17, 2024

Chaos in the Hen House

What is it with chickens? There can be any number of perfectly good empty nest boxes available, but they want the one that another bird is already in!  And they are quite persistent about it. They will push on in and sit on the current occupants head, even pecking her if necessary, to get her to move. If the invading hen happens to be one of Rooster Schooster's favorites, he joins in with all manner of squawking! 

Of course, when Schooster sets up a fuss, we have to go check. Even when we're pretty sure it's just over nest box squabbling, it could also be a snake or rat, both of which are egg and chick stealers. One time, we had a skunk brazenly walk into the coop in broad daylight and kill chicks! So, reasonable doubt requires making sure everything is okay. 

Egg laying is bird business, which means that none of them is interested in (or compliant with) the humans' opinions and solutions to the problem. Our efforts to sort things out are completely ignored, and the battle for the nest boxes continues with the sense of business as usual. For the most part it actually isn't a problem. It becomes a problem, however, when the occupying hen/duck/turkey is broody and wants to hatch some eggs. 

Broodies can be pretty persistent, but when they are successfully routed out of their nest by a rude chicken, they move and then stay there. This results in the eggs being abandoned which means none of them hatches. Our solution has become to keep an eye out and then move the eggs to the broodie's new next. 

This solution points to another problem however. That is, now there are more eggs so that they are at different stages of development and often become too numerous for the broody to properly cover and incubate. 

I'm guessing that at about this point, many of you are wondering why we don't use an incubator and skip the fiasco in the hen house. There are several reasons for this, which are logical to us, although they may not make sense to others.
  • We like having a mixed age flock because it helps keep egg production at a consistent level. Old hens eventually lay less, while younger hens lay the most. With a mixed age flock we can keep six hens and have a surplus of eggs to share year after year.
  • Consequently, we don't need a specific number of new chicks every year. We don't do the replacement flock thing, so just a trickle of new chicks each year works well for us.
  • It's infinitely easier to let the birds hatch and rear their own young! This is nature's way, after all, and it relieves us of the accompanying chores of the job. Plus, we firmly believe that babies deserve to have their own mother. 

So, speaking of baby poultry and mothers, here is the first hatch of the year:


Yup, our turkey hen hatched out two duck eggs and they are all perfectly content with the arrangement. The added bonus for the ducklings is that the chickens—which tend to be ruthlessly mean toward newcomers—absolutely leave Jenny's babies alone. They are all quite intimidated by her, so nobody messes with her young 'uns!

Sadly, we lost one duckling when it drowned in the big water dish. But the other is doing just fine.

Currently we have two broody ducks and a broody hen in the nest boxes. We're waiting to see what's next. 

21 comments:

Cederq said...

Oh yes, the Eternal War of the Boxes... I remember those skirmishes quite fondly. Mystifying as to why the interloper has to be in that particular box and next day will never use that box for months. What goes through the minds of chickens. Yes, you had to go out even at 3AM to see what the fuss was about in case it was skunks, weasels, rats and snakes. Why I always took a 22 with me.

Leigh said...

Kevin, never a dull moment with chickens!

daisy g said...

Isn't that the truth? Only a certain nesting box will do-the one YOU'RE IN!

I'd love to forgo the purchase of new chooks, but I don't have enough room for another (or more) possible roosters. Our hens haven't shown much interest in broodiness anyway. Nature's way is best, of course.
Enjoy your new charges!

Henny Penny said...

That's the truth! Everything you said! :) Our chickens have a nice three tier roost the length of the chicken house but where do some of the hens want to roost? Sitting on the edge of a nest box with their back ends over the box. Always a mess in the box and dirty eggs. I've tried hanging a wire cover over the boxes at night but they find a way to fly up and sit on the wire. :( I LOVE your turkey mama, baby ducks video.

Boud said...

The turkey mom of ducklings is great. She seems very maternal to them. Maybe the UN can work, after all.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Leigh - Not being dependent on technology is another great benefit (re: The Incubator). Certainly that seems to be a weakness with certain kinds of quail; their ability to go broody in captivity is low (Coturnix, one of the most popular, is one of these).

Rosalea said...

Letting the birds raise the young 'uns makes perfect sense. One less job on your list. Loved the turkey mom video.

Leigh said...

Daisy, that's exactly it.

I think we humans are often too impatient for nature's way, or otherwise want to override it. But it doesn't always work out the way we want it too!

Henny, for awhile we had several turkey hens who completely took over the roosting bars. So all of the chickens resorted to roosting on top of the nest boxes. Like you say, it was a mess! Jenny is our only turkey hen at the moment and not as aggressive as the others were. The chickens still stay out of her way, but they aren't terrified like they used to be.

Liz, maybe mothers ought to take over the UN! The lessons are simple really, share and take turns. That would solve a lot of problems!

TB, interesting point. I've read that broodiness and mothering have been bred out of many breeds of poultry. I don't know how they'd do that, but the characteristics seem to favor some breeds over others. It would be an interesting study.

Leigh said...

Rosalea, that's exactly it. They know how to do it instinctively, while we humans have to follow a bunch of directions to do it. They learn so much from their mothers that humans can't teach them.

tpals said...

Two of my hens were fighting yesterday and the rooster was flapping around, completely useless. Gru, the turkey came over and broke it right up.

Leigh said...

Tpals, good to hear from you! It's funny how some of them how some of them just react and others take charge. A good rooster is priceless, but I've observed that he isn't always at the top of the pecking order!

Goatldi said...

I currently have a older hen who played that game too often. I moved her finally from the coop to the shop and put her in a dog crate and let her go . With no other eggs to move to she finally hatched out two of four and ended up with a single as the smaller chick didn't make it to day three. I believe he was wired wrong as he never got the catch of how to eat or drink without my intervention. The happy Mom / Daughter has moved up in accommodations in a smaller portable coop in the garden.

Leaving me with another an older hen and a yearling hen playing egg bingo in the large coop. They will soon be relocated as the portable coop has three nesting boxes and I have marked the eggs so there are no worries. Well maybe??!

Leigh said...

Goatldi, I've thought that separating them might be the best answer, but we haven't managed it yet so far. Sounds like we should!

Anonymous said...

It is more work to be sure. But it is worth not having to deal with finding they moved and now is sitting on new eggs all day and the older clutch is now not viable and has to be dumped. Also explaining to one of the folks why they got a developing chick in their breakfast omelette. 😬

Leigh said...

Anonymous, like everything else in homesteading, there is no one size fits all. It's a matter of personal preference, right?

Ed said...

Another bullet point for your list of reasons. Using broody hens to hatch eggs is a sunk cost that you've already paid for. Using an incubator costs you even more money to run.

If I didn't travel as much as I do, or had a trusted friend relative who could be counted on to watch over things, I could easily see myself raising birds of all kinds. I spent many hours as a kid watching our chickens go about life and don't ever remember being bored.

Leigh said...

Ed, that's a good point about energy costs. Plus one needs a reliable grid.

Poultry of all kinds are a joy. Always entertaining.

Fundy Blue said...

The video was interesting! I've never raised chickens or any livestock. I had no idea chickens would fight over boxes. They're like little kids. Enjoy your week, Leigh!

R's Rue said...

Chickens are funny little creatures.
www.rsrue.blogspot.com

Retired Knitter said...

Wow, I had no idea that there was so much “politics” among chickens! The histrionics are fascinating to learn in a blog post, but I am guess not so fascinating if you are the owner of the birds trying to keep everyone (you included) happy!

Leigh said...

Louise, and not only nest boxes, but food too; of course! Having livestock is indeed like having a bunch of little kids. lol

Regine, chickens are endlessly entertaining. :)

RT, I hadn't thought of it as politics, but it's definitely an ongoing power struggle. lol We used to try to intervene to negotiate a peace of sorts, but as far as the birds are concerned, our opinion doesn't count! Now, we pretty much consider the squabbles as chicken business and let them handle it.