I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. We have 7 chickens, well we started with 7, now we have 6 because 1 was dragged off by a raccoon. At least we didn't have to see the carcass, or deal with the body disposal, how thoughtful of the raccoon to take care of it for us.
Since we have 7 (6) chickens we want them to be happy and lay lots of eggs so we let them roam around our yard which means lots of chicken poop. In the winter it's not too bad but in the summer I want to walk around my yard barefoot whenever I can (hey, I grew up in Alabama, what can I say). So we built a fence around their coop so they can still be outside but not pooping under our patio table and fire pit all the time.
A couple days after the fence was built we noticed a few not laying eggs and not getting out of the nesting box. We went from 7-13 eggs a day to 0-2. So I did some research and found out this from Mypetchicken.com
"When a hen is broody, that means she wants to hatch
her eggs. A breed known as broody has hens that often, individually go broody,
and they may not even need eggs to set on to be broody--they may go broody in a
nest with no eggs. Further, if there are eggs in the nest, if there is not a
rooster in your flock, your hens will not know that their eggs won't be fertile.
Your hen will seem to be in a sort of bad temper while she broods, she may
pluck out her breast feathers so she can be closer to the eggs, and she may
even screech a warning at any birds or people who come near her nest! "
Aww, I was so sad for my chickens so I talked to my husband about it....
Me: "They are
sad! (with a pouty lip). They just want to me mom's, they are trying to turn
the eggs into chicks because it's in their nature.
Him: Oh good, so they aren't mad at us for building the
fence, or sick, they are just on their period.
I was actually so proud of him for using that work, I
couldn't help but laugh.
Sorry no food making today, I've been really busy preparing for a Festival our CF box has a booth at. But, here is a picture of my breakfast- poached eggs over bacon and fresh Mozzarella cheese with cantaloupe and mixed nuts on stars and stripes paper plates from Target.
