Tulip enjoys a dust bath.

Tulip is soooooo much better. We’ve put her back with her flock for a few hours each day. Today she laid her first egg since her injuries last week.

The first day that we put her in with the other hens, I waited to see if they began pecking her back. It still has a bare spot but there is no blood present. I didn’t see them peck her at all. She rushed over to a private spot that the cameras don’t show, layed down and took her first dust bath in four days. I’m sure she felt like we all do when we’ve been deprived of a shower for a few days. She spent an hour fluffing her feathers and rolling about in the dirt. After a while, Poppy joined her. Poppy just sat near her, glad to have her back.

I’m not sure who started the pecking but my suspicion was that it was Petunia. Petunia has always been a bit of a pecker. I’ve made a rather tough decision in the last week. I’ve have been looking for a better home for Petunia. One with a larger run; perhaps a “free range” situation. A rooster would be good. Roosters seem to know how to handle ill-tempered hens. I believe that I have found a good home for Petunia and will post about it when I deliver her there.

Poppy visits with Tulip as she takes her dust bath.

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"Queen Tulip" Sitting on Don's Lap

Thought you’d like to know that Tulip is doing well in her cage in the garden shed. She was so depressed when she was being picked on in the chicken run, I was afraid she was just going to lie down and give up. Now she is talking to me when I go visit her and enjoying her regular feed, yogurt, and tuna (supposed to help her grow her feathers back).

Tulip (I call her “Queen Tulip” because she is so regal looking) is so much a part of our flock. I’d hate to lose her. She’s a bit aloof; not the first to jump on our laps. But when her feet are cold, she’s right there. I like her because she’s mellow and calm most of the time. Not typical of chickens. She seldom is noisy unless she lays one of her big, beautiful, light green eggs. Then she is the first to let us know (with Sweetpea cheering her on). It can be quite a chorus at times.

Hopefully, Tulip will be back in the run in no time. Thanks for your good wishes.

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This is what a hen looks like when she's sick.

Our gentle Tulip, the Ameraucana hen, is sick. Several days ago, I noticed that some of the feathers on her back had been picked off. Those of you who have chickens know that once they start picking on a hen, they don’t stop. They can be downright cannibals!

Tulip's wound.

The second day I noticed Tulip sitting in the corner of the coop, head down, tail down and the picking had continued. I know better than to let this go. I applied a think dark paste called Rooster Booster (made to discourage picking) and within an hour, the three other hens (Daisy is too busy being broody) had picked the pasty goo off. So much for Rooster Booster! I put in a temporary fenced area inside the chicken run (see picture) to keep the other hens away and when I went out a little later she had climbed, or flown, over the top and was hiding in the nest boxes.

I’ve prepared a little cage in the garden shed next to the window for Tulip to recuperate and grow her feathers back. She is in the cage now but seems very lethargic. She has all she needs; food, water with electrolytes, and I’ve given her yogurt (her favorite food).

Tulip's home until she heals.

Chickens are strange animals. They will suddenly die without warning. They will die from fright if chased or manhandled. They will die of loneliness. They will sometimes just lay down and die. I’ll give her some poultry antibiotic just to make sure she doesn’t have an infection, then time will tell.

Daisy is setting on unfertile eggs.

I’ve written about “broody” hens before. But Daisy has never been broody before. “Broody or setting” means the hen’s instincts tell her to hatch some of the many eggs she has been laying. In the wild the hen will lay a clutch of eggs. When she has layed enough, she will spend about 21 days setting on the eggs, keeping them warm, until they hatch into chicks. Awwwwww…………

Now, I shouldn’t have to explain this to you, but you need a rooster to have fertile eggs that will hatch. We don’t have a rooster so the eggs that our hens lay can never become chicks. If I want the hens to hatch eggs, I have to buy fertile eggs or buy little chicks and put them under the setting hen. No one ever said that hens were the smartest creatures in the world. They don’t understand when you slip some chicks under them, and remove the eggs she’s been sitting on, they are not their own. They just mother them as if they were!

All fluffed up, clucking, clucking, clucking.

Daisy has been acting “broody” for about a week. She is all fluffed up and clucking, clucking, clucking. She continued laying eggs every day. But today, when I reached into the egg box she gave me a threatening growl………… “Don’t touch my eggs,” she warned. Daisy has never pecked me. She is the sweetest hen in the world. I gently pushed her from the nest and gave her some hen scratch (treat). But she was back on those two eggs in about five minutes.

We will continue to take her off the nest to eat and drink. We’ll remove the unfertile eggs beneath Daisy. We’ll put buckets in the nests in the late afternoon after all the hens have finished laying for the day. We will put her on the roost at night. Other than putting her in a cage by herself, that is about all you can do to discourage a hen from setting on unfertilized eggs. Why don’t we get her some chicks? Because when we built the henhouse and run, we were only going to have 3-4 hens and it is quite small. But I got “chick fever” and, as a result, have five lovely hens. It wouldn’t be fair to any of the hens to crowd in a few more. So, Daisy dear, get over it. I know your biological clock is ticking but it isn’t going to happen. Motherhood is just not in the cards for you, sweet girl, but if I ever have the room for more chickens, you will be the first to get those little ones you’d like to have.