Chicken Drama - Luke and Her Chicks

 Spring generally brings a lot of drama in the chicken realm at our farm. First of all, thanks to hens hatching their own eggs last spring, we are once again at about 10 roosters rather than the only needed one. Also, last year there was a nest of abandoned guinea eggs that we hatched out in the incubator, so they thought they were chickens and bedded down in the chicken coop at night. Feeding time in the mornings was chaos,  with the roosters and guineas out-pigging the chickens.

So a month ago, I decided to remove the roosters and guineas from the coop and cease letting the ladies free roam during the days until everyone established new routines and knew where they were supposed to report back to at evening time. 

It was quite the feat to trap and snag the chickens who insisted in sleeping in the barn and laying eggs in random places and put them in the coop, as well as chase all the roosters and guineas out of the coop. Let's just say JD and I both got our steps in that day and really missed James!

For the most part, everyone got where they needed to be. The only two chickens that evaded capture was a little white polish hen that we tried on several occasions to catch. She has either been eaten by a fox or is sitting on a nest of eggs somewhere out of sight. The other chicken was Luke, Elijah's chicken that he named 5 years ago and he turned out to be a she. 

Luke is small and looks like she is half crow, and has always been very difficult to catch. Luke decided to lay 19 eggs up in the this cat house on a dog kennel in the barn. We let her just sit on her eggs and came out one morning to her and four babies down on the ground. I shudder to think she shoved those babies down and they survived, but I'm sure that's how it went down. I locked the goats out of that stall to let her have it to herself, but she promptly moved the chicks back and forth to and from the next two stalls and walked among the goat and llama hooves. 

The following morning, the little black baby was gone and she was out strolling around with only three yellow babies. We attempted to catch her to move her, but she was very stressed at the idea. Also that morning, two more eggs hatched in the cat house and I put the new babies on the ground for her, but she wanted nothing to do with them, so I brought them in and put them under warming lights.

late hatchers in the house

 Last night we successfully grabbed Luke and transported her and her babies to the chicken mansion where they would be safer. This morning I woke to the babies outside the fence and Luke squawking inside the fence. We caught the babies again and had their frantic momma follow us back in; we put up a half wall that will keep the babies from making it outside. Luke seemed pleased. I then had the idea to get the two house babies and present them to her again, and she decided she liked them now that they were fluffy and cute. 

Tonight she had all five of them tucked under her wing to sleep and I am relieved of caring to two more house chickens!

I have also had 3-4 chickens sitting on empty eggs with great passion the last month.  I decided that I will let a rooster back in the coop to allow them to  fulfill their dreams and hatch a few babies of their own. This faithful rooster has literally spent a last month circling the coop watching his lady friends from the outside. The last two days, I have opened the door for him a few times each morning and that dummy doesn't go in. He's sure there is some catch to my plan and runs the other direction. I hope to get him in before any foxes get him! The other roosters have given up and moved to the barn where they are safe, snacking on goat feed and pooping on everything.