On Thursday it was the wedding day of my eldest son Steve and his beautiful bride Yu Lee. We left for Cambridge on Thursday morning at half past eight and returned home at half past four on Friday afternoon.
This was the longest that I had ever left the chooks. I usually have two food bowls and two water bowls but I upped it to three and topped them right up. I also left the girls six halved bits of corn cob and two whole apples to give them plenty to peck at while we were away.
They have been sleeping out on the high perches under the solid roofed area so I knew they would be okay (they wouldn’t need putting to bed).
As an emergency back up I gave my lovely next door neighbours keys to the house and the chicken run gate and showed them where everything chicken related is stored and also gave them my lovely chicken friend Jackie’s phone number. If there was an emergency I know Jackie knows as much about chickens as I do.
The wedding was beautiful and we all had a lovely time despite punting on the Cam in the pouring rain. It was a really memorable day.
Steve and Yu Lee
Mr and Mrs Brown signing the register
Brothers as witnesses
Behind Steve is my youngest son, Robert and behind Yu Lee is her brother Zen.
We had such a lovely time but it was soon time to return home and see how the chooks had got on in my absence.
Everything was as normal with seven of the girls and number eight, Topaz, was in the little coop nest box. There was an egg from Honey in the other little coop nest box. I didn’t know how long Topaz had been in there so decided to leave her while I cleaned the enormous amount of poop that had accumulated in a couple of days.
Once I had finished she was still in there and my husband lightly said he wondered if she had gone broody while we were away. Well as soon as I opened the coop and tried to move her it became obvious that she was indeed broody. She puffed herself up and tried to peck at me if I got anywhere near her.
After not laying an egg for a month Topaz has only laid two eggs before going broody.
Angry Topaz in the nest box
I decided that I must get her out as I wasn’t sure if she was sat on Sparkle’s egg or when she had last had food and water. I resorted to using a fishing net to ease her out. She was angry and pecking at the net and I knew I couldn’t get my hands near her.
I quickly closed all three coops so that she couldn’t go back in and she shouted her protest at the top of her very loud voice.
My husband heard her from inside the house and came out to see what was going on. She raised her wings up and growled. When I tried to take a photo of her she ran at me. She has turned into a chicken monster.
Topaz has her wings held up
I threw down some sunflower seeds and Topaz joined the other girls to get them. She then set about scratching in the soil.
Topaz joins in with the sunflower seeds
I decided that as it wasn’t long until they start perching for bedtime that I would leave her out. I thought that as the nights are cooling down now perhaps a night on the perch might break her of her broodiness.
It wasn’t long before Topaz went up to the perch and soon all the girls were in their usual night time positions. I opened up the coops again ready for the morning.
This morning when I went in to the girls Topaz was in the run and I thought it had worked. I was wrong. After she had an hour of feeding, drinking and scratching she headed off to the favourite coop. I shut both the little coops thinking that if she went in the main coop nest box instead the other girls could have the favourite coop to lay their eggs in causing less protesting.
Topaz all fluffed up
This is what she looked like when I checked on her a bit later. While I was taking this photo Amber and Honey joined us to see what was going on.
Honey and Amber are very curious.
I opened up the other coops and left her to it. When I checked back a bit later Topaz was back in the favourite coop. How had she known it was open? At least this meant she had been out and Sparkle’s egg was in the other coop.
Topaz is quite a scary girl at the moment and I think I am just going to have to let this run its course. She will probably come out of this just in time for the moult. I think this girl is determined not to lay eggs!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
First .. Yu Lee is beautiful . I love her dress it looks just perfect.
Second .. What can I say apart from the colour those pictures of Topaz look so familiar .
I remember once managing to get Shadow out and put her down for a second turned round and she was back in .. So quick and very cunning .
Isn’t Topaz top chick? You might find the others start pecking her if they get the chance and she might go down a peck or two. Clover my top girl would not hurt a fly but when shadow was upsetting everything Clover really started on Shadow.
Yu Lee’s mum made her dress. They came up with the design between them.
I know the broody girl is very familiar to you. Topaz is top girl but I don’t think any one would pick on her as she is too scary. She has turned into a monster.
I knew I would have this at some stage but I didn’t think it would happen this late in the year.
Awe, Congrats on the wedding. The bride and groom are beautiful.
And why is it when you want a broody, you don’t get one. And when you don’t need one, you get one.
I lost two hens in the past month. I just can’t seem to get myself to blog anymore. I’m just so frustrated with all my loses. I do love the 4 I still have and hope to get more. Maybe I’ll get a broody this fall or next spring and I can let her do all the work for me.
Thank you for the congrats.
I really don’t need a broody but there you go!
I am so sorry for your loses, I did wonder why you haven’t been blogging. If you ever want to e-mail and off load please do. I will always be glad to hear from you at any time about anything.
I am sure things will take an upturn soon.
So pleased that a lovely day was had by all: even in British summer time, we can never rely on the weather, but we never let it spoil a wedding!
Topaz must have set another record, to go broody after only two eggs! My record, with a wyandotte is 6 eggs and then broody. They are persistent, too. I have 6 wyandotte pullets who started to lay in April/May; one has gone broody 5 times, 4 others on 3 occasions and the best layer only once. Three of them were broody when I put them into chicken boarding for a week when we went on holiday; fortunately, the change in environment seemed to do the trick. When at home, I have put them into a medium-sized dog crate into which I put a mesh floor, with a small drinker attached to the side and a bowl for feed. With the wyandottes, it has worked well – often one day has been all it needed, although my 5-timer was once in for 9 days, as every time I let her out, after a quick dust bath, she made straight for the nest boxes. My fear always is two-fold: first, that an egg gets broken when other hens are laying (the conseuqneces could be severe); second, that with the favourite nest occupied, one of my girls attempts – or succeeds – in escaping from the garden, as I have an open-topped run and on a couple of occasions I have had an escapee, always prompted by the desire to find somewhere ‘better’ to lay (under my neighbour’s bush, for example); fortunately, it has been the ‘tamer’ girls, easy to catch, so no major problem.
Mine have not been aggressive when broody, but a long-sleeved jumper helps (your hands are protected in the sense that they go straight under the hen). They have to be lifted off and, as you rightly did, locked out for at least a while, otherwise they can quickly lose condition. Good luck with managing the broody situation: keep us posted.
You are so right, us British cannot let the weather spoil and a wedding and it was wonderful despite the rain.
Oh my, you have had a lot of broodies, maybe I should count myself lucky. Honey used to sit on her eggs for hours and I would lift her out and distract her but she was so docile. The thing that has spooked me with Topaz is the level of aggression. Before bedtime when I wanted to get her out she was in attack mode. My husband said he would have a go and soon realised how hard it is to move her.
She reminds me of the geese people keep to protect their property. She really is going for it and long sleeves would be no protection at all. I managed to get her out with the fishing net again but I had to push her out with the net while she resisted and pecked.
She then shouted for a good while but did eventually eat and scratch before perching up as I had shut all coops.
I think I will carry on like this for now rather use the dog crate as it’s not really a problem until I want to get her out. I never thought any of my lovely girls could be so aggressive but I suppose in her little brain I am stopping her from having her (non Existent) babies.
I will soldier on and hope it gets easier.