Step One?
I’m not sure that my “no privileges until we see eggs” is working. Yesterday one of the girls did lay an egg, but she also pecked a hole in it. This is the fourth or fifth time that’s occurred but, so far, we haven’t managed to identify the culprit. Since it never happened before Ida Mae and Clara joined the group. they are the two under suspicion.
Unfortunately, the hole-pecker is the only girl who is laying on a semi-regular basis. The others are still on strike. Farmer Nyel and I have researched every possible cause for egg-pecking, but we are totally flummoxed. Whoever the culprit is seems only interested in ruining the egg. She isn’t eating it or breaking it up. Just pecking one hole in the top.
Step Two?
“Maybe it’s her own personal birth control method,” Nyel said yesterday. Say What??? We don’t even have a rooster! But, come to think of it, I never did have “the talk” with the new girls. The other two have known (in a Biblical sense) the attentions of roosters (several) during their two-plus years with us. They (especially Slutvana and hence her name) seemed to enjoy having a cock-a-doodle presence in the flock, but neither of those girls went broody when it would have resulted in a family, so we assume they aren’t interested in motherhood.
Step Three!
On the other hand, we aren’t at all sure that IdaMae and Clara have ever met a rooster or if they’ve had a chance to put all the facts of feathered life into perspective. Perhaps I should have had “the talk” with them early on. I’m not sure whether it’s too late. The chicken experts say that once a hen “gets a taste for eggs” it’s a difficult, if not impossible, habit to break. But, does she have “a taste?” One peck without apparently penetrating the egg doesn’t seem to qualify.
Well… if it is a convoluted, misunderstood attempt at birth control, I doubt very much if it is politically motivated. There have been no protest marches or sign-carrying in or around the coop. This morning, on the off chance that the new girls need a little birds-and-bees instruction, I took time for a little private visit with them. I don’t know if they paid attention. It’s always hard to tell with chickens.
I believe it’s a case of one of the non-laying hens being jealous of the productive one and not wanting her little brats overrunning the henhouse. it’s sort of a chicken thing.