So Now What?
So it turns out that the addition of Tallulah, Saffron and Fiona (now Ellie Mae because Greg couldn’t remember Fiona) has become a little rocky. After proper introductions all seemed to be progressing nicely. The obligatory jockeying for position was in full swing and the ladies were getting along reasonably well. Enter Windsor the Terror for his three-week vacay at our house and the ladies were rightly upset. A slow down in production started to occur and before the goofy pooch went home they were down to only four a day if we were lucky. Now the big girls (our original flock) were accustom to wackiness by unfortunately we put a little too much stress on them with the little girls and the new dog so I understand their confusion. We have been through tough times before.
Tallulah and Fiona/Ellie Mae
After raising our adorable day olds a year and a half ago, we realized that we only had three girls instead of six so we rehomed too very vocal roosters and the third was to be the Godfather of the flock. This however wasn’t meant to be as a subdivision no matter how rural is still not going to tolerate a crowing rooster 24/7. So my big beautiful Diesel had to go as well and we traded him for three verified hens. These girls were the same age as my girls but obviously not raised together so the flock was amiss and it took many weeks for them to work out their issues. Then peace…a long extended peaceful flock emerged. They were laying five to six eggs a day once they reached maturity and they shared a couple of well fluffed nest boxes without incident. Then of course at a year old my Welsummer Willow started to long to be a mother. Not only is this my first flock it’s my first broody hen as well so I was stumped. Research along with trial and error resulted in a successful broody bustin’ and all was back to normal. Then of course I get to itching for a few more girls because I wanted more diversified breeds. I wanted to add a Buff Orpington and another Barred Rock as my Diesel was so beautiful and another Ameraucana in a different color. I just love my green-blue eggs and wanted more. Unfortunately my local breeder had moved out-of-state and if I used a mail order hatchery I had to buy 25 at one time. After some cajoling I convinced Greg to pony up the hundred bucks to buy 25 more day olds. That was the beginning of the strangeness that now plagues us. I had 12 sold right off the bat to a friend and another friend was going to take 8 more. Well he backed out at the last-minute so I had 15 chicks to deal with. I wanted three so what was I going to do with 12 more chicks?!
Luckily my cousin was listening to my raves about fresh eggs and watching all the chicken antics that go on around here and wanted the remainder of my fresh flock. I raised up my three little girls to 12 weeks and then started to integrate them into the established flock of six. They were chased, pecked, jumped on and even slung through the air by the big girls. It’s hard to watch but necessary none the same. They held firm and are now allowed to eat and nest and roost with the big girls. Whew…that was a relief! Then my big girl Lily Bell starts the same ominous behavior that Willow had exhibited earlier in the year and we are holding our breathe that she wants to be a mom as well. Sure enough she starts sitting all day in the coop even in the 90 degree heat. Since she is so flighty and shy we don’t put her in the Broody Buster Greg designed but let her continue to sit only taking the eggs and shooing her off the nest several times a day. This doesn’t work and after about 4 weeks she’s persistent and still trying to sit. Then as if this instinct is somehow contagious our big girl Georgia decides she wants to lay as well. Now the heat always slows production but now we are down to two eggs a day because the other girls have started their first molt. Now I knew ahead of time that molting stops production for an extended period of time but we have been going at this for about 4 weeks now and are down to one egg a day at this point. Now it’s about time for the little girls to start laying so we now have two broody girls, one layer, three molters and 3 newbies. This is not a happy flock right now. So we block their nests and this busts Lily Bell and she is now back with the flock acting normal. I am struggling with putting Georgia in the Broody Buster as she is large and feisty to boot. So after a week of 95 degree heat we are now only getting an egg every other day. Now if you have lost count on this long drawn out chicken tale that’s nine chickens and only 4 eggs per week! Week…not day, week!!!
- Georgia pacing to get back to her nest!
- Lily Bell before she got Momma Fever!
As I think back on things now it seems when the original stressor Windsor came that began a downward spiral of stress that resulted in molting that resulted in loss of production. Then the Sympathetic Mother Syndrome kicked in and here we are…plenty of chickens but not a lot of eggs. Now all our friends who were getting farm fresh eggs for free are asking what the hell?! Okay, don’t panic…things will go back to normal soon. Everyone will get ranked, shed their feathers, get busted and all will be peaceful again…I hope!
A Country Walk 
Beautiful girls.
Thanks, I am just hopeful things will return to normal soon!
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