Goat in the Henhouse

During the week it came to my attention that we had an intruder in the hen house.  It wasn't a predator - only a trouble maker.  Annie (our hopefully pregnant Nubian goat) was seeking refuge from the torrential rains and resulting mud and cold temperatures.  In so doing, she broke down one of the boards that I had nailed to keep her out, and she entered the hen house.  If that was all she did, it would be fine, but she pushed her luck.  She jumped up into the laying boxes and stood in them.  The nesting boxes are built to hold the weight of hens and their eggs - not goats.  Of course Annie went right through the bottom of the nesting boxes, breaking out the wooden bottoms.

Broken Nesting Boxes

Here's the culprit.  She doesn't seem to act like her conscience is bothering her for her transgressions, now does she?

The hens aren't really laying a lot of eggs right now, but it is important to fix things and keep them in good repair.  When the weekend came and the weather was nice, I gathered Benjamin and we got busy.  First we cleaned out all the old hay mixed with chicken droppings and filled buckets with it. I'll take this to the garden and scatter it out over the rows so that it will produce some fertilizer for the Spring vegetables. We do this a couple of times a year as replacing the bedding helps keep the eggs clean.

Buckets of fertilizer

Then I repaired the boxes by nailing bottoms on them.  We gathered fresh hay to use as bedding or nesting material to line the boxes and placed them in the boxes.

Fresh hay in the boxes

If I was a hen I'd rather lay eggs in a clean nest.

Fresh brown egg

Finally I had to fix the entry door to the hen house, so that it permitted entry to the hens, but exclude entry of Annie the goat.  All I had to do is nail another wooden slat across the door and all was set.

Closing the gate for Annie

It took a little while to get everything repaired, but finally we had the job done!  I hate to pick on poor Annie.  Her momma died less than a month ago.  But her shenanigans have got to stop!

Little Orphan Annie

Repair and maintenance is an on going process, never ceasing.