Yesterday evening I found her broody box empty and her eggs smashed, pecked and cold. I suspect a crow had driven her off the eggs or had sneaked in when she had briefly left them to feed.
By the look of the shells most of the eggs had been fertile and when I checked on the intact eggs, each one had a perfectly formed but dead chick inside. It was a bit of a blow as broody hens literally go out of condition when they are sitting (they hardly eat and drink), so the prospect of another 3 weeks sitting is a daunting one to an animal that is already thin and slightly out of sorts!
I gave the dead chicks to the hens to eat (no waste) and tomorrow after I feed kate up a little I will start her off on some more eggs in another more robust broody box.
Chris was up at 4.30 am to go to London for the day, so I am writing this wide awake in bed surrounded by dogs. It is too early to let the birds out...that fox is still around, I could smell his scent markers by the field bottom....
time to get a gun me thinks
Really? You feed the chicks to the hens? I understand the no waste principle, but still..
ReplyDeletedan, the chicks were dead and burying them would be a waste ...hens LOVE meat from time to time (you could see them chase and catch a mouse!)and at this time of broodiness and moulting extra protein is vital!
ReplyDeletewhat a shame for that to happen. Is Kate looking confused about her eggs? Are hens intelligent creatures?
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
I have had this same problem this past week. I have a duck and a hen that are sitting on eggs ready to hatch. The Mama hen eggs starting hatching yesterday. I have been watching the coop closely. Everytime that darn crow shows up I run to shoot it but, that darn thing is smart and takes off. Yesterday while Mama Duck was off her nest to eat the crow went in and took and duck egg dropping it on the way out. Of course all of my other birds went over to see what was dropped and ate the egg shell leaving the almost developed little duck. I let my birds out to free range during the day so I hung window screen over the door with enough room for the birds to enter at the bottom to deter that darn crow. Hopefully it worked. Only a couple of more days and I should have more baby ducks. I am going to hide outside waiting for that darn crow to shoot it.
ReplyDeletePoor Kate. It's a good idea to let her rest before trying again. I always liked crows. Not so much now.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a thing about chickens but I understand the 'no waste thing'. Crows on the other hand are very intelligent.......make sure the new abode for Kate is heavily reinforced.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, so sorry to hear about Kate's chicks. :(
ReplyDeletePoor Kate! What a waste!
ReplyDeleteI hate crows! We didn't get any pecans the last few years because of them. I got some bird shot for the shot gun and when they show up this year - POW! I'm not good enough with the 22 anymore, it's too heavy and my eyes aren't good enough, that would have been more fun....
4:30, omg - yawn!
It's enough to really piss you right off. I had two hens with chicks. One bantam with a silkie rooster. She hatched 7 chicks. And another bantam pair. I never got a full count, but yesterday in the cool rain with mud everywhere, there were only 6 left. I gathered them all up and put them in a brooder box with a lamp. I have pics, but not downloaded yet. I'll post about it later.
ReplyDelete~Randy
No, poor babies.And poor Kate.
ReplyDeleteIf you hadn't found the dead chicks but just an empty bloody egg shell would that still mean there was a baby inside?
One of our eggs broke two days ago, apparently, and when I found it in the nest Snowflake had already...eaten..whatever was inside-all that I found was bloody marks on the shell. I sort of figured if it had been a bad egg I would have found the contents and they wouldn't be bloody..
The rest are due to hatch tomorrow, keeping my fingers crossed.
polly...
ReplyDeleteyes most of the eggs were fertile so would have had a chick inside
My grandma used to watch for the crows from her kitchen window and then step out onto the porch with a .410 shotgun to blast them.
ReplyDeleteShe was great.
send her over eric...I like her already!!!
ReplyDeletegill,
ReplyDeletegenerally hens are thick as mince
I dunno - Chickens eating a mouse is ok, but chickens eating a baby chicken?
ReplyDeletedan...the little things were dead!
ReplyDeleteyou gotta harden up!!!
lol
Well, just remind me not to go hiking with you just in case I fall off a cliff and you turn to cannibalism :)
ReplyDeletedan, have you seen my paunch?
ReplyDeletethere would be nothing left of you, save your buff!