Every morning we let our chickens out to “free range” in the yard. I feel that they are healthier eating bugs and grass outside the pen plus it saves on feed costs and keeps the coop cleaner. We usually open up the pen first thing in the morning, and by dusk they go back to the pen on their own and we just have to shut the door. We count heads just to make sure everyone is in every night.
A little over 3 weeks ago, we were missing one hen. Al looked around to see if he could find feathers or any sign that something had killed her, but we couldn’t find anything. We thought maybe something had scared her or something and would be back the next day. The next night she still wasn’t back, so again Al looked through the long grass along the edge of the yard.
We put a short fence around the flower beds to keep the chickens out a few weeks ago, and Tai was pawing at the fence trying to get to something in the flowers. When Al came back up we found the missing hen.
She was sitting on 8 eggs next to the house under the flowers. While I don’t really want more chickens right now, we decided to leave her and see what happened. Once a day she would fly back to the pen to get food and water, but then go right back and sit on the eggs.
Yesterday was 3 weeks to the day that she started sitting. The windows were open on the porch and I could hear her making a different sound then normal. So I went outside and found 8 baby chicks running around after their mother.
We were going to leave her in the fenced in flowers, but then thought that she would be a great find for a raccoon that happened to come into the yard, so after dark Al moved them into the coop. When you mix chickens, it’s better to do it in the dark, otherwise they may fight or peck each other and kill the chicks. While I didn’t want more chickens, I don’t want to find them dead either.
This morning the 8 chicks are sitting in the corner of the coop under their mama and two other hens that have been broody anyway. I don’t think they will have any trouble protecting the chicks from everyone else, and I guess we have 8 more chickens!
