My flock has been on the move in the last two weeks, with goings as well as comings. Things are getting all-over-the-place. After the culling of Jane, I was left with an egg-eating Lydia to deal with. I spent quite some time trying various things to change her habit because I didn’t want to cull her, being one of my favourites and very useful up until the egg eating began. My efforts began with keeping a close watch on her, putting fake eggs in the nestboxes and putting dish liquid- or mustard-filled eggs in the nestboxes, to little avail.
One morning The Husband found a hen eating an egg in the coop. He showed me a photo of who it was. It was Mary. I just about died. When I went to see what the story was, Mary arched her neck and screeched at me like a dragon as soon as I lifted the nestbox lid. That was not what I was expecting! From what I can guess, she accidentally broke an egg while she was climbing around in the nestboxes turning broody. Fortunately, she only ate a little of the egg and hasn’t repeated that clumsy accident or formed an egg-eating habit. Phew. But that was it for Lydia being in the flock. The danger was too great. I promptly caught her and put her in the Bachelor Pen, aka the Fattening Pen, with Mr Collins, who had only just moved there himself.
Lydia laid an egg in there and didn’t eat it, I think because I turned up soon afterwards, but that is the only time she hasn’t eaten one since. I had to remove her from there as she was bullying Mr Collins. They were a bad combination: oh, the pair of them! A feral-minded little cockeral and his dramatic mother. As a last ditch attempt to avoid culling her I sought advice from my Facebook poultry group. Answers I could try were a roll-away nestbox and curtains to darken the nestboxes. Despite trying various things and settings for Lydia, she remains too smart for her own good. She will not use ‘that thing’, she will lay anywhere where there is bedding or just ground and then eat her egg before loudly singing the egg song, announcing the presence of NOTHING. I will see her nesting but when I come back to check I am either too soon or too late. I am currently seeing if anyone is keen to re-home Lydia to avoid the alternative option. Either way, she puts me another hen down. Mr Bingley has been most disturbed at the removal of Lydia, his 2IC, on top of missing broody hens, which is making things a bit stressful on the flock.
Meanwhile, Mr Collins had to be culled earlier than anticipated to make way for some new arrivals. I forgot to mention that Frodo was in the broody breaker too. I had chickens here and there all over the place. My attempts to make one of the other hens broody only resulted in semi-broody episodes, then Frodo went broody hard-out as I was making new plans to buy in pullets rather than fertile eggs or chicks, which were in scarce demand at this time of year and would take too long before they could be companions for PB. With Jane gone and Lydia probably soon to be gone I had to get more females. And soon. With Lydia out of the flock I was able to remove the fake eggs, but not before Mary turned into a formidable, screechy semi-broody, followed by a full-on broody. Boy, that hen’s got a screech on her. She rivals Mr Collins’ screechiness. Her bark is worse than her bite though.
Anyway, back to poor Mr Collins. He was a beautiful young thing, but so nutso, so feral. His behaviour was influencing PB too much, so I made the decision to remove Mr Collins. His pen was right next to the main pen, so he could still have some contact with the others. PB is going to be a bit lonesome for a little bit, although he still hangs out with Georgiana sometimes. The good thing is he’s now acting like part of the flock, albeit lagging a safe distance behind, instead of hiding in the bushes in Mr Collins’ scared little boys club. PB hasn’t crowed yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time… He’s still a nice boy and although he needs work out in the open, thanks to Mr Collins’ freaked-out ways, he sits very nicely in my arms and eats food off my hand while he’s having snuggles. And he’s not going to be lonesome for long…
Hot on the heels of Mr Collins’ departure and some pen cleaning and moving in the horrible rainy weather, The Little Fulla and I went on a little trip to a magical place. And now I would like to introduce you to two new members of my feather family. They are a new breed for me. They are beautiful. They are oh-so friendly that the Australorps are going to have some competition in my heart! They are a silver-laced Wyandotte and a gold-laced Wyandotte. The gold-laced girl is about 13-14 weeks old. The silver-laced girl is a few weeks younger but is a very lively forager who keeps up just fine.
I am seriously gushing over these girls! I’ve been admiring laced Wyandotte colours for a little while. The breeder also had blue-laced and buff-laced Wyandottes. The adults looked stunning and there were a lot of pullets to choose from. If they had cost a little less I seriously would have gotten more. I was only planning to get one, but then, Lydia… According to chicken maths, if I lose one hen, I can replace her with two. And thus, we end up at my next chicken trip, the next day…
Now, I would like to introduce you to the other two new members of my feather family: two 13-14-week-old black Orpingtons. They are so beautiful too! They are elegant, gentle and soft. So floofy! They remind me of dear Sam, the blue Orpington who was one of my originals. She had major health issues but she was such a sweet hen. Sam and Frodo’s relationship was as Sam and Frodo as you could get. I am getting myself into so much trouble. Too many beautiful chickens! So much for focusing on one breed. They do make me happy though and give me something to focus on in the midst of health issues. I’m currently in the midst of a food intolerance investigation, but that’s a story for another time when I’ve narrowed down my excluded suspects. I’m doing a lot better at the moment.
The newbies are currently in a temp pen together, where they will be ‘quarantined’ for about two weeks. This means I can observe them and treat anything if it comes up before they meet any of the others, while they get used to eating new food, grass and other goodies they find on the ground. So far, they have been very pleasant towards each other, which is a nice change from some of my dramatic Australorps. Names are yet to come. I can’t wait to introduce them to PB. He’ll just have to wait a wee bit longer.
Wild Hope Homestead 
I should *not* find it funny that Lydia bullied her egg-baby. It is in chicken-nature, however. He’s the young cockerel and she has her ‘need’ to put him in his place.
I had hoped she would stop the egg eating, but I guess that was too much to ask for?
The new girls are beautiful! Little Dude had a silver laced Wyandotte egg in his hatching project. If the incubator and it’s humidity issues don’t render it useless, I will be excited to have one in the flock!
You’re right! The little black Orp does remind me of Sam!
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