Drama In Da Coop: Part One

You wouldn't guess it looking at these beauties, but I'm a novice at chicken husbandry. My chickens are only 5 months old. I have learned bunches in those five months. Sometimes it makes me sad that people aren't banging on my door looking for solutions to their chicken emergencies. So I have fantasy conversations (in my head) with people in need of chicken advice.

Newbie: I'm having a problem with my chickens---

Me: (Cutting them off before they can finish) Find the culprit and quarantine her. Put her back in with the rest of them in 24-72 hours. Problem solved.

Newbie: Oh my god! Are you some kind of chicken wizard?? How did you know? Thanks!!

Out of necessity I have rapidly progressed my chicken troubleshooting skills. In five months I've been afraid I was going to have to cull my flock (kill one my chickens) three times. Luckily I've been able to avoid culling with some straight talk and time outs. Even having to consider culling my flock really sucks because the primary reason I'm raising chickens is because I want to eat eggs without contributing to an animal cruelty. Some fates are worse than death and I don't want to contribute that. I'm not perfect, and I've consumed many unethical dairy products, but part of moving out here was to eliminate my contribution to cruel practices and still enjoy some hormone free dairy. I thought that raising my own chickens in a penthouse coop would allow me to be a feel-good egg-eating vegetarian. Reality descended. In the country we are constantly subjected to the reality of life and death. Chicken raising is just one example.

The first chicken problem I had was when they were just days old and I discovered one was pecking the eyes of the others. Luckily I was able to isolate her, and after I reintegrated her, the problem stopped.

The most recent crisis was equally weird. I'd been on about 3 weeks of egg laying, getting 2-3 eggs a day. One day, I looked in my coop and  there were broken eggs on the floor, not in the nest boxes. I told myself it was a sloppy chicken mistake, knowing in the back of my mind the true reason was more menacing. You see, chickens can become cannibals. If they develop a taste for egg, they'll start eating them regularly. This was my fear. Sure enough, later that day, another two eggs were broken, this time in the nest. After scrubbing the coop I began a game of cannibal chicken clue. Who was the egg eater?

                                   My initial thought was Steve.

                                             

Why Steve?

He's kind of a jerk.
        I've seen him in the coop acting a fool while the girls are trying to lay.
                                              He's the rooster.


Stay tuned. The egg eater will be exposed.