"Four little hens,brooding in the nests.
One flew up and joined the rest.
Ariel took the hens and threw them out the door.
'No more brooding, not any more!"
I know, you've been waiting with bated breath to hear the outcome of the remaining chickens and their brooding. To recap, there were 6 and they slept outside in the rain, then there were 6 and I made them perch (some of them stayed up there anyways). The next night, last night, only 4 hens were attempting to sleep on their eggs and I chucked them out into the yard where they found their own ways to the roost. In the morning I opened the door to let all the chickens in and out of the hen house and yard, mingling together, broody and non-broody, layers and non-layers. They all seem happy! One hen, the first hen to go broody, now marked with purple (left over from keeping them from pecking each other as babies), found her way back to the nest boxes. I removed her and chucked her back in the yard where she seems to have stayed. The laying hens once again have free access between the yard and the nest boxes which makes me feel much better about the health of their oviducts. Hospital Chicken, who was attacked as a wee chick and never fully recovered on the back side had a ... prolapsed vent? the other day which I cleaned and ... re-inserted? It seems to be staying though in general she looks sort of sad all the time. The white broody chicken (who started this annoying trend and is being the toughest to break it seem) also got the ends of her flight feathers on one wing trimmed this week to try to stop all that fence-hopping.
We'll see who's in the boxes, who's in the yard, and who's on the roosts tonight!
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