Why I hate Chickens, Part 1

Well, the two broody hens that I had (notice the past tense verb) setting on eggs last week have been thrown off their nests. The black hen on the floor was on a bunch of eggs one day, then the next day there is nothing underneath her and there are two dried yolk covered eggs just a foot away from her. Did a snake get in and eat all the eggs? Did some other chicken eat here eggs? Did she eat her eggs? Once her nest was ransacked, she hasn't gone back to setting on anything. Hopefully she'll go back to laying eggs though.

Then I noticed that the barred rock hen in the top nesting box had yolk on her breast feathers. I lifter her up (and got pecked to all heck) and noticed a broken egg shell. Only a few days earlier I found a broken egg under her, but just figured she cracked it while moving the other eggs around. Well, this time when I took the eggshell to get rid of it, she grabbed it and started eating it. So I tossed her off the nest and destroyed the remaining five eggs, two of which had small embryos in them. Dang it! Not that I would have fired up the incubator for just those few eggs, but it was still a bummer to see.

Hey Gloria, I'm going out to grab a bite to eat, want me to bring you a sandwich?
No thanks Bonnie, I just finished eating one of my unborn children.  But I wouldn't mind a soda.

The barred rock was back to her broody self in just a few days, having selected another nest box with a handful of eggs in it. But I immediately threw her off and collected the eggs. Did that two times now. She just won't give up. But the heck if I'm going to let her sit on a bunch of eggs that she'll just end up eating when she gets a hankering for a snack.

I've also been keeping an eye on one of the Black Australorp hens. I know she hasn't been laying in months now, but figured she was just having a bad streak. The past few weeks she's been getting slower and slower and although she was always one of the biggest hens I've had, she's been getting a little bigger in the abdomen, making me think that she's egg bound. If so, that would be the third egg bound hen we've had here. I don't know if that's a common thing in chicken keeping or not. But if she keeps getting worse I'm going to have to decide if I'm just going to let her hang out until she croaks or put her down. I guess it depends on how bad she's looking. I had one egg bound hen that although she was slow and obviously not in top condition, she still stretched out in the sun, pecked for bugs and took what looked like enjoyable dust baths. I just couldn't put her down. And one day I went out to the chicken yard and found her in the corner dead. 

The second egg bound hen went downhill very quickly and when it was obvious she was in pain, I put her down. So I guess I'll just see how the Black Australorp does day by day and make that nasty decision when it looks like she's had enough.

I tell you, it's like a frekking Poultry Soap Opera around here.