Chicken News

This week the flock suffered the loss of two hens.   I wasn't home when it happened, but when I discovered that two hens were missing I searched the yard and found no trace of any wrong doing.  They disappeared without a trace.....or very nearly so.  Walking my dog up the street the next morning I noticed a couple of piles of black feathers here and there in the field next to my house.  One of the missing hens was black.  The other was the sweet golden hen that always wanted to hang out with me in the yard.  I didn't find any of her feathers.  I am guessing that the predator was a hawk since the fencing was untouched and there was no trace of a tussle in the yard.  They probably just swooped in and scooped them up to carry them off for a good sized meal.  This is probably the biggest downfall using poultry netting to contain chickens.  They really do need overhead protection from aerial predators where hawks and eagles are common.  This just gives me even more reason to get to work on a new chicken coop to protect my flock.  The current set up isn't very safe in this wild area that I inhabit and if I plan on keeping chickens for an extended period, then I had best make sure they have sturdy shelter to protect them from predators.

In other news, I currently have a broody hen.  This means that she is determined to hatch out a clutch of eggs.  This is my first experience with a broody hen and although I would love to have her hatch out some eggs for me, I am afraid that she isn't very consistent about sitting on the same nest everyday.  I am thinking about moving her to the pen where the young chickens are living so that she can have her own space.  She has become fairly aggressive in the nest boxes, so the other hens seem to be avoiding laying eggs in the usual area.  I was planning on hatching a second round of chicks this year and this is about the right time to start incubating them so I may let her sit on a few to see what she can do.