More successful in 2010
I ’ve had biddy for 5 or 6 years now , and do n’t plan on ever endure without them again . They ’re fluffy and pretty . Their scratch - and - peck is mesmerizing and tranquilizing . Their eggs are so delicious that I can no longer wipe out ordinary skunky - smell eggs in average diner . Of all the dweller of my household , they are the least prima donna - esque , demanding astonishingly little care in exchange for the food and lovely compost they produce .
As individual , they are not eminent - maintenance . But as a raft , they take some direction , and if you mess up , there will be blood . If you mix the wrongbreeds , as I did when I start out off , you may find some hens making sushi of others .
More successful in 2010
You also ca n’t just casually usher in chicks or pullet to an existing flock . The establishment willattack . On the other hand , you do need to bring in the ingenue every other year or so , since hen age out of their prime place time quickly . And then , if you have only limited blank , what do you do with the menopausal ones ?
Two years ago , when one of my hen got broody , I got some fertile eggs from my friend Rick , who has 80 acres and a big ramshakle flock that includes a rooster or two , and put them underneath her . Broody hen are awing – pregnancy as madness . Their body temperature rises . They seldom result the nest to exhaust and tope . They make unusual cooing sounds . Their eyes are like catherine wheel . They are the suicide bombers of domestic animals . Nothing matters but the Cause .
As a technique of flock expansion , hatch out eggs worked attractively ! Even the non - reflective hen helped to mother the chicks , spreading their body over them to keep them warm . And the skirt that eventually turned out to be roosters , Rick gracefully accept for coq au vin . A shame really , considering how beautiful they were , with striking lustrous colorful foresightful tail feathers . Alas , my city allows hen but not roosters .
Now , it ’s time for another hatch . My two old biddy are n’t laying like they used to and are preparing for a country retirement at Rick ’s . And my outdoor chicken yard more than double up in sizing this year after my neighbor moved a fence and I lose a parking space . So or else of having 5 hens , I could easily pull off 12 .
But some years , nothing belong correct . Two of my hen went broody , and I require Rick to save me rich bollock on a day that I was in his vicinity . He forgot and refrigerate everything . I ordered fertile eggs fromMcMurray ’s Hatchery . In the meanwhile , my two ruminative hens got disturbed about being confine indoors during the fencing rebuilding – and were n’t musing when the eggs arrived . I bought an incubator , which my 14 year - old daughter took mission of . She was aside for a weekend , and I noticed the temperature was a little low , so I become it up . By the clip we checked it again , it had heighten too mellow . Still we perservered , sour the eggs dutifully and waiting the required 21 days for crybaby gestation – and then some . Nothing brood .
My two pensive hen recommenced their broodiness . Then a third biddy joined them . I ordered two twelve more fertile eggs fromMy Pet Chicken . My Pet Chicken ignored my instructions and mailed them while I was on holiday . It took two weeks to get another hatful . My hen have now sat on those egg for four full week . Nothing hatched . Some problem with the post post ? Who have it away . There is no warrantee on fertile eggs , so I surmise this sort of thing happen a sight .
My poor hens are looking peaked from pose and sit and sit with no payoff . But from experience , I can tell you that it ’s not easy to get out a chicken of broodiness . And the proficiency suggested – which include dipping a panicked hen ’s inflamed butt into ice water to break the physiological cycle – while they make me laugh in possibility , are scummy in practice .
So I ’m making a last standpoint . I just say 25 live chicks from McMurray ’s . When they arrive , I ’ll try out to sneak them under the contemplative hens ’ behinds in such a way that they will recall their eggs have hatched .
So far , 2012 has been a comedy of errors . Let ’s see if I can deliver it with some rebuff of helping hand .
