So our Barred Plymouth Rock (black and white hen) has gone broody. For anyone who is unaware of what this means (as I was), it means the hen's hormones have taken over, and she is trying to make eggs hatch. So despite the fact that there is no way any of our eggs are fertile, she keeps sitting on them. Needless to say, egg production is down. Every day I have to go to the nesting box and kick her out. One way to solve this problem is to get fertile eggs and just let her do it. (Totally out of the question with our cats and their bird-killing history.) And the other option is to keep kicking her out and wait for her to get over it... it's been about a week, and she is not over it.
Also, I found myself wanting to discipline this chicken today. The whole pecking order thing drives me crazy. We are left with one gorgeous hen, the Black Australorp, who is obviously the top of the pecking order. The way we know this is because she is not missing a feather. The other two are missing their fair share. The Barred Plymouth Rock gets picked on by the Australorp, but apparently is more than happy to pick on the Ameraucana, who is just shy and sweet.
I put some food out for them this afternoon, (we are limiting the amount out at once because we lost a lot to a storm) and the poor Ameraucana can barely get near the food because the Plymouth keeps pecking at her. Since I was in there, I felt like protecting her and kept shooing the Plymouth away, but to no avail. Finally I had it. I reached in and grabbed the Plymouth by the leg. And as I was holding her upside-down by one leg, with her flapping her wings, I started to remember that she is a chicken, and this is probably not getting my point across. At least she knows I am top of the pecking order though...
