I find a nest of eggs every now and hen... yesterday it was right next to the house in a flowerbed... so I took the eggs and left a stone egg that a friend brought me back from Africa... hidden eggs ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) Stone egg in hidden nest ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) She didn't even notice that the egg that was there wasn't real. I stole the eggs an left a stone one in it'splace ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) Another chicken seems to think a box in the greenhouse is her special spot. I have collected her eggs from there all summer long. Silly hens.
Well Carolyn, now you have a hen that thinks she lays artistic eggs. How are you going to convince her plain brown is just fine? She could hurt herself trying to lay a painted egg! I have my grandmother's glass darning egg. When one of the ladies gets really broody, I slip it under her (after being sufficiently warmed) and she seems content, or as content as a broody hen gets. When the ladies were just girls, I'd find eggs all over the yard--made mowing very interesting! Now that they are older and wiser, they go back to the coop and a nestbox to lay. My husband wants me to get an ostrich egg and put it under a broody. Even I am not that cruel!
Chuckle, chuckle, Carolyn, the hens are quite clever at that.. I think the GAME type chickens are extremely sly at that endeavor.. Hank
What about that. That the hen kept laying all this time.... Say, I have a question for you: If a person keeps chickens and he wants them to lay continuously does he have to have a rooster in with them? With other words--do chickens lay if no rooster is present? How does that all work?
Hens don't need a rooster to be able to lay eggs. Only if you want the eggs to be fertile, and to hatch into chicks do you need a rooster in the coop. Roosters can be aggressive to humans, and sometimes hard on the hens--pecking and intimidating the girls. Hens don't lay eggs continuously--they generally lay fewer in hot weather, and as they age they lay fewer eggs. Also some breeds are egg factories, and others are much less productive.
The guilty party As I was getting the hose I noticed this..... well, well, well. ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) I think this is the broody hen from the Spring hatch.
To funny. I got a couple of good clucks out of that one. Yes those roosters can become quite aggressive. When we had chickens and one rooster I would have to take the garden rake into the chicken yard with me. He was so aggressive I had pinned him to the ground several times with the rake. He didn't last long! The girls didn't miss him at all.
I got rid of all my roosters. I stopped hatching eggs and they were just eating food. They eat 50 pounds a day so I don't want to feed extra mouths just for them to have a "little fun". No no, Not meeee! I just have my little hens now.
