Late For Breakfast

Dateline: 19 October 2019 7:38 AM

During the week, it is still dark when I leave the house on the way to work.  On the weekends, we sleep a little later before heading out to feed the animals and milk the cows and the other morning chores.  Once the sun rises, the roosters crow and all the hens leave their roosts and head to the gate to wait on us.  They have very small brains, but they KNOW at which gate their people will come through to bring them breakfast.  We're enjoying a nice cup of coffee and don't mind if the animals wait on us for a little bit. 

They wait impatiently at the gate until I arrive.  I gently push them out of the way.  My hands are full - two milking buckets, a bucket full of water with two clean rags, and my cell phone as I'm on call all weekend.  Many times when I lift the gate latch and open the gate, a hen will dart out.  This is frustrating.  I'll set the buckets down and go chase the errant hen.  I'll make her promise to never do that again and once I have that assurance from her, I'll toss her back over the fence.

I walk toward the barn, opening the gate.  By this time, the two mama goats along with their kids notice my arrival and come running to the barn.  The cows look up and slowly make their trek in from the pasture to the barn.  Before the cows arrive, I open the nesting boxes.  We close them all at night so the hens don't poop in them.  Then I go into the feed room and mix up everyone's feed, adding minerals to the buckets and then I open the feed troughs.  These are sealed each night so rats don't poop in the feed troughs.

By this time the cows are at the gate.  I feed the Aussie the bull and Buckwheat the goat and then I feed all the hens some hen scratch mixed with laying pellets.  This gets them out of the way.  I learned the hard way that if you let the cows in before feeding the chickens, the cows will step on the chickens and you'll have crippled chickens.  Distraction is key.

The cows are let in the corral and into the milking barn.  They are washed up and then milked.  It takes approximately 20 minutes per cow to milk them out, including washing.  The goats are fed and then everyone is let out of the barn.  The lights are turned off and we go inside to pour milk and wash buckets.  It takes about an hour from door to door.  It is a lot of work, but it is peaceful - especially when the weather starts getting nice - like now.

We're always looking to make our process more efficient.  We've solved our mud issues around the barn.  The rat problem we were having is way better than it used to be.  I guess our main issue right now involves the hens.  One (or some) of our hens has developed a very bad habit.  They are eating eggs in the nesting boxes.  The broken yolk gets on the other eggs, creating extra work when packing up eggs in cartons.  We've read numerous ideas on the Internet on how to stop this.  So far, nothing has worked.

There is an old saying that "You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet."  That's true, but many of the eggs that are being broken are being eaten by the chickens - not us! 

The Old Broody Hen

We have right at 100 hens that roam Our Maker's Acres Farm.  They scratch for bugs and worms, and they scratch through the cow patties in the pasture, distributing fertilizer across the pasture better than a fertilizer spreader.  As they roam, they too, drop fertilizer, contributing to a wonderful cycle that keeps the grass growing for the cows and goats.

I like our chickens.  I like to watch them chase down roaches when I'm splitting wood.  They are so focused on their meal that I often have to stop my ax in mid-swing so as not to decapitate a hen intent on her mid-day roach snack.  They are not very watchful.  Ever so often we have hens that get caught underfoot of one of our Jersey cows.  Due to this run-in, they will limp for many days and weeks after learning an expensive lesson on not tangling up with something bigger than you. Others die due to these injuries.  I can't tell you how many chickens I have buried in the garden.

Our hens also lay beautiful eggs for us each morning.  They'll rush to one of many nesting boxes an plop down in the hay and lay an egg.  Then, in a remarkable show of pride, they'll sing a little song letting all the other hens know that they've laid an egg.  One of these days I'll tape the "Happy Egg Song" for you and play it for you so that you can see what I mean.  Most of the time after they sing this song, they'll jump up out of the nesting box and head out to the pasture and clock-in for a full day's work of doing what I explained in the first paragraph.

But there are certain times when they don't get up.  They become 'broody,' meaning that they go through some hormonal changes that make them want to set on her eggs and hatch out some babies. Broody hens are easy to spot because they become very territorial.  If you come near to her nesting box, she'll fluff out her feathers so that she looks twice as large.  Then she'll make a very angry sound that is meant to frighten you away.

Although there are times when we let a broody hen set, right now we have enough hens.  I don't want her to hatch out any chicks.  So each day we ignore the broody hen's bad temper and reach underneath her and remove the eggs she is sitting on. One must be brave to do this, because you will get your hand pecked by a truly angry bird!

She means business!  In the end though, the smallest creature loses the battle of the will and I exit the hen house with a basket full of eggs.

One of these days, I'll want some more additional baby chicks and I hope at that time this old broody hen or another one like her will oblige to setting on some fertilized eggs.  These protective mommas do their duty well.  I have a friend from church who has some broody hens right now and he asked me to bring him some fertilized eggs.  I brought him two dozen so far and his broody hens have hatched out a bunch of baby chicks for him.  There is absolutely no need for an incubator if you have a broody hen.