Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Man Machines | What? No Cries of Judicial Tyranny? »

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Chow / Life Egg Drama Everywhere

Posted by David Schmader on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 10:07 AM

As the Food and Drug Administration grapples with the recall of more than 550 million eggs suspected of being tainted with salmonella, my backyard is hosting an egg drama of its own.

The source: a hen that's gone broody, the detrimental effects of which are laid out by animalloversweb.com:

Sitting on her [unfertilized] eggs day after day can also be detrimental for the hen and any other chickens within the group. A hen that sits anticipating the arrival of a new brood of baby chicks may well neglect her own needs and seriously compromise her own health. Some chickens become reluctant to move at all when broody, even to feed herself or access the water trough.

Jake is the hen-tender in this family (we've got four in all), and he's working his way through the various break-your-hen-of-broodiness tricks. Still, our broody hen is getting thinner and thinner, and if she doesn't eventually start eating, she will get eaten. (Not by me, but by people I love.)

Also, salmonella sounds like the salmon-flavored cousin of this.

Comments (6) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Animal lovers don't eat animal products.

Posted by Sally Struthers Lawnchair on August 24, 2010 at 10:14 AM

for broody hens i've heard two ways of getting them out of it...though i have not personally tried either or know how sensitive chickens are. One farmer i worked for would isolate the brooding hen from her eggs and all the other chickens for a night, in a space she can't leave (specifically an old truck bed shell placed on the ground) for a night. I heard from another chicken owner that picking up the hen and giving her a good shake can also get her out of it, though whether that is too cruel or not is your own decision.

Posted by greener on August 24, 2010 at 10:15 AM

My my...this is truly an egg-zilarating conversation. My only hope is that you get egg-zactly the results you're hoping for.

Posted by j.lee on August 24, 2010 at 10:31 AM

My friends who have chickens said you have to isolate them, and make their butts cold. They built a small container, raised up, with a wire grill floor, and set a desk fan blowing underneath. Snapped her out of it in like 48 hours.

Good luck to Jake in de-broody-fying yer hen.

(debroodifying?)

Posted by treacle on August 24, 2010 at 10:34 AM

We've had two chickens die in the past week. Both just ... stopped. Like they were alive and alert, but wouldn't move. When moved around by a human they'd look around and wouldn't seem alarmed. When set back down they'd stand for a moment, then sit. This went on for 2 days with the last one, and she was dead this morning. Didn't want to try to butcher her early for food since we don't know what's wrong with her.

Posted by NaFun

on August 24, 2010 at 11:35 AM

Just give her some chicks to take care of. Make sure she has been on the nest at least 21 days (she will know if it is too soon) and then slip some chicks under her at night. Give the gal what she wants! If not--then you need to take away all possibility of her finding a place she thinks is good for raising a family. What she wants is dark, quiet, warm and cozy so put her in a cage in a bright, cold, exposed place.

Posted by good vagina on August 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM