May 6, 2011

Oh What a Relief It Is


George, our hen, has been escaping every day. When we open the gate to the run, all the hens head out. George runs down to the orchard, which is where the gap in the fence is (or I should say, where the gaps in the fence are). Problem is that once she is out, she can’t figure how to get back in and therefore can’t get back to the coop where the nest boxes are.

Tonight Jordan and Jeremy went down to do the night time chores. Naturally, George was out, presumably for most of the day. They let her back in, via the driveway gate, and she made a bee-line for the run. She went right into the coop. Jordan was gathering eggs and George was sitting on them. As Jordan reached in to get the eggs, George pecked her so hard she left a blood blister. Then George ran out of the coop. Next she did this strange chicken-dance - prancing about with wings raised a bit and feathers on the back of her neck standing up. She headed back up the ramp to the coop and an egg popped right out of her - bloop. She couldn’t even hold it to the nest box. Must have been a huge relief to get that out. The egg broke as it rolled down the ramp.

4 comments:

Robin said...

I love that your hen has a boy name. :) I'm so bad at coming up with girl names that all our females have male names (except for Lee's dog). I'm trying to figure a new boy name for all our small chicks. hehe

Anonymous said...

just to give you a heads up..that's typical behavior of a broody hen. If she's sitting on the eggs she's broody, especially if she made a b-line back to them.

JrJ03 said...

Just to give you a heads up...that is typical behavior of a broody hen. She probably made a b-line back to the eggs b/c she hadn't turned them or had been off for quite some time.

Mindy said...

Good to know. We try to take the eggs before anyone can get broody, but you know that doesn't stop 'em ;-)