One Determined Hen
November 11th, 2013 · 5 Comments · Posted in farming
Just as our flock of Rhode Island Reds began laying eggs for the first time, we had to move them.
We had been keeping their mobile coop close to the house. But the chickens discovered a layer of Styrofoam behind the stucco around the foundation and couldn’t resist pecking holes all over the place. Why chickens like Styrofoam so much is still a mystery. We laid fireplace logs in the areas where they were doing to the most damage. Pretty soon, the entire house was surrounded by fireplace logs.
Then there was the poop on the front porch. The chickens loved to hang out there. Scrubbing the porch became a regular ritual until my wife could take no more..
So I hitched the coop to the pickup truck and towed it about 300 yards out into the orchard, which is mostly surround by woven-wire fencing. Since then, we’ve had peace. Except the other day I was out in the yard and heard clucking approaching from behind. There was one of the hens. She’d walked all the way back from the orchard, completely alone and for no apparent reason.
She spent the rest of the day pecking and scratching and exploring in the yard as before. As the day wore on toward evening, I tried catching her so I could return her to the flock. No dice. She wouldn’t let me get close. It wasn’t until after dark, when the hens are normally all snug in their coop, that I found her laying in a corner outside the kitchen. This was a spot some hens had chosen to lay their eggs, rather than in the nesting boxes I’d built into the coop. She was so drowsy, she didn’t resist at all as I picked her up and held her in my arms. My wife and I drove her out to the coop in the orchard to join the others for the night.
I figured that was the end of it. The hen had just lost her way and now we had reunited her with her mates. But I was wrong. Yesterday afternoon she was back and we went through the same drill. I didn’t even bother trying to catch her. I just waited till darkness had fallen, picked her up again, and again drove her out to the coop.
Has she finally gotten the message? We’ll soon find out.
Hi Ed, you are discovering that hens are creatures of habit!
btw I didn’t mean to nag you about losing your farm stock… I admire you for taking on a small farmstead and all the hard work that means.
xx
Not to worry, Celia. We are trying to learn as we go. Winter is the next big test.
Love reading about NY State. I always thought lawyers were made of Styrofoam and you have just verified that. Hope the poor chicken and the Styrofoam lawyer make it through the winter up there.
Thanks for pointing out that type, Bash. No copy editors here!
I had a hen like that. She was absolutely determined to lay in one of the cabinets on the back porch up in Mulino. Even though the porch was enclosed, there was a 12″ gap at the top of the wire panel that kept the birds out. That hen learned to climb 6′ of vertical wire, get onto the top rail of the panel and then jump down into the porch, then it was on to the cabinet.
I finally wound up butchering her.