August 10, 2010
Sad chicken, consoles herself in dirt bath Good/bad news on the chicken front. My chicken co-parent did some googling and it turns out silkies are prone to bouts of brooding (often referred to as “broodying” or “getting broody”!) during which time she will not lay eggs, be social or do anything other than lay in bed. Twice a day I physically remove her from the coop so she’ll be forced to eat/drink and she responds by huffing, fluffing and rolling around in dirt. Which is actually really adorable! If only humans were so endearing when we got broody. Some of the remedies recommended are hanging her upside down (an outdated method, most people don’t do this anymore), dunking her head in ice water, rebuilding her coop so she has only chicken wire to rest on (apparently getting cool air on her butt would make all the difference) or just waiting it out. We’ve opted for that last option though I can’t wait to tell someone who’s being cranky that they need to go air out their behind, toute suite! She’s also recently developed a strong aversion to crows and tries to scramble her way back into the coop whenever she hears them. I hate to think of her having some terrible crow trauma and we weren’t there to intervene on her behalf. Our neighbor who has a veritable turkey shangri la in his backyard told us crows are really aggressive in this neighborhood. At the same time, she seems completely unfazed by the aging but still semi-aggressive German Shepherd who lives next door. If he starts barking at her through the chainlink fence we share during her limited outings, she fluffs her butt out at him and continues pecking at bugs. Perhaps Chicken has grown aware that this will make us all feel better. Except the German Shepherd, I guess.

Sad chicken, consoles herself in dirt bath

Good/bad news on the chicken front. My chicken co-parent did some googling and it turns out silkies are prone to bouts of brooding (often referred to as “broodying” or “getting broody”!) during which time she will not lay eggs, be social or do anything other than lay in bed. Twice a day I physically remove her from the coop so she’ll be forced to eat/drink and she responds by huffing, fluffing and rolling around in dirt. Which is actually really adorable! If only humans were so endearing when we got broody.

Some of the remedies recommended are hanging her upside down (an outdated method, most people don’t do this anymore), dunking her head in ice water, rebuilding her coop so she has only chicken wire to rest on (apparently getting cool air on her butt would make all the difference) or just waiting it out. We’ve opted for that last option though I can’t wait to tell someone who’s being cranky that they need to go air out their behind, toute suite!

She’s also recently developed a strong aversion to crows and tries to scramble her way back into the coop whenever she hears them. I hate to think of her having some terrible crow trauma and we weren’t there to intervene on her behalf. Our neighbor who has a veritable turkey shangri la in his backyard told us crows are really aggressive in this neighborhood.

At the same time, she seems completely unfazed by the aging but still semi-aggressive German Shepherd who lives next door. If he starts barking at her through the chainlink fence we share during her limited outings, she fluffs her butt out at him and continues pecking at bugs. Perhaps Chicken has grown aware that this will make us all feel better. Except the German Shepherd, I guess.

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