Katchup and mustard

This blog and I have had quite the distant relationship these past couple months. Visions of projects getting completed and blog posts being written dissipated after yet another unexpected change this summer.

Within a month notice, I knew I was to start this summer unemployed. I was ready and excited to take a couple months off to tackle a too overdue list. A couple short weeks into my work-cation I found myself applying to new jobs. In my profession, employment opportunities do not come around as often as one would like. Low and behold, a week and a half later, I was offered a promising position that I happily accepted. The downside of this change was I barely even glanced at my list and had powered away at yard tasks, ones that were not even on my list! Now I need to play some catch up on the blog as well. 

In the beggining of May I built a fancy new incubator to try our hand at hatching chicks as our hens appeared to have little interest in doing so themselves. With a computer controlled kit I ordered online, a diy egg turner, and a very insulated box with just the right amount of water and wet sponges, we were on our way to hatchlings. About 20 days later we had our first eager chick

Over the next day, 12/15 eggs hatched. With 4 different hen breeds and a bantam rooster, it was quite the surprise as to what were were going to get. Our best guess as to what mixes we have is 4 White Leghorn / White Crested Polish Bantums, 2 Barred rock / WCPB, and 6 Rhode Island or New Hampshire Red/WCPB. All of the chickens were gifted with awesome mohawks, a trait from the rooster. At this current time, we have 3 roosters, hopefully the rest will be hens (spoiler: we have at least 5 now)

With a new flock came the need for the third bird house on our little farmstead. This time I wanted to build a chicken tractor so that they can maintain a close to free range lifestyle, while being very protected from predators. Our goal as usual when we build something new, keep it as economically and reuse conscious as we are able to. A visit to the box store, some savaging for scraps, and we have a "rustic chicken cottage,"

After a close encounter where Baxter was either giving a chick a kiss or trying to taste it, we have been teaching him that chicks are friends, not food. This lesson starts with one on one time with a chicken on his back, first step to being best friends. We are hoping he will eventually start to herd them and keep them safe as need be. If all else fails, we will start our own backyard dog riding chicken rodeo. 

While enjoying the new chickens, and coming to terms with no longer needing the rooster we had, we culled Pablo. The change created a new dynamic in the flock and a bit of unexpected changes. First off we had a drop in eggs which was to be expected when there is a major event or stress with chickens. What we thought was an extended halt in laying turned out to be cannibalistic chickens. We were seeing more and more evidence of eaten eggs. Before we killed the rooster, we were getting 6-12 eggs a day, for 2+ weeks after, we were getting 2-4. 

After some research, we decided to try a few methods to break the habit. First came ceramic eggs, pecking them is supposed to create soreness in their beaks which leads to them stopping. After a week or so of no changes, it was time for a new approach. This time we tried a mixed approach, we were checking the coop 3 times a day and taking eggs as we saw them. If there are no eggs to peck, they can't eat them, right? It turns out that wouldn't be enough. So the 2nd part of that attempt was to blow out two eggs and fill them with mustard as they are supposed to dislike it. After 5 minutes, the first egg was gone, after another 10 minutes, the second egg was also gone...no luck there.

The third attempt was to build a new nesting box. I came across some plans for roll away boxes, where they nesting surface is angled and when an egg is laid, it rolls under cover and away from the hen. Three hours later, Nestinator 2.0 was born. Things looked promising, eggs rolled well, landed under a wooden platform. The next day we had 5 eggs! What could have been a nice half dozen was one eaten egg short. Over the next week we were averaging 5-6 eggs a day with 1 - 2 being eaten. I then modified the nestinator to have a curtain across the ramp so that the eggs that rolled under, would not be visible to the 

chickens. It seemed to help a little, but still was not 100%. Nestinator 2.5 would aim to solve our problems. By expanding the roll under section by 4 inches,the chickens would either have to magically grow a longer neck, or develop lightning egg eating reflexes to get them in time. But we shall see how it fairs in the coming weeks. If all else fails, I foresee Nestinator 3.0 being implemented, guillotine and all.