Thursday, April 13, 2017

How Many Chickens?

Question : How many chickens can fit into a nest box?
Answer : obviously 3

Today when I went to collect eggs, I found three of the girls crowded into one nest box. The funny thing is that they are using a box that most of the hens have been shunning these past few weeks. But today it's the hottest piece of real estate around. Reaching under these hens I pulled out 14 eggs!


Right next door is the nest box that had been the hot item for the past several weeks. Today it held zero eggs. Not even one. Go figure. 


Don't ask me why. I can understand the concept of a community nest. But why the medical chairs every couple weeks? If they were actually brooding fertile eggs, then they'd never hatch because the hens switch nests before the incubation period is up. 

While hens are smart in their own way, at times they aren't too clever. 


4 comments:

  1. Interesting behaviour, maybe they have an instinct to change nests regularly to avoid parasite buildup, I don't know.
    Some people seem to have a move home occasionally instinct too.

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    1. My father was one of those people who had the urge to move, while I'm happy to stay in one "home base" forever, so perhaps the hens have that instinctual urge to move. Who knows?

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  2. What kind of chickens do you have?

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    1. The majority of the hens are a mixbreed feral type that one sees running around my area. But I do have several Arucanas and some mixed ones that have Rhode Island Red, plus at least one that is half Coco Maran. If my primary reason for having chickens were for eggs, then I'd have just Arucanas and Red Sex Links. But it's not. I'm looking for the manure, so the breeds don't matter.

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