Chicken Sitting

We were on the road recently and sought the services of our trusty 'hen sitter' - A MUST HAVE FOR CHICKEN OWNERS.

If you haven't secured yourself a hen sitter for unplanned trips, planned get-aways or even a night on the town....Find One, Get One and give them the low down on coop etiquette. Then you can contact them on a moments notice and fly the coop.

....We had a broody hen, Helen.  And, despite our efforts to sway her from her broodiness - she could not resist her oval egg temptations and continued to steal other hens eggs from nesting boxes.  At last count she was sitting on more than 32 eggs! 

Using her beak, Helen carefully (and tirelessly) rolled egg, by egg, one after the other to her self made nesting spot in the corner of the coop.  How she was able to roll eggs out of a wooden nesting box with a two-inch lip we just don't know.  So, with Helens new found addiction, we took matters into our own hands and marked her eggs (this time 9 eggs) and left instructions on how to 'work' with her in our absence.

In addition to our persistant broody hen we had a pet hen turkey sitting on eggs that were due to hatch in our absence.  She's a heritage gal and likely had the intuition and smarts to hatch the whole brood and not split mid hatch...but we just didn't know.  Our last gal (a wild turkey with a mind of her own) took her 17 poults on a 4-wheel excursion of the property and her numbers dwindled everyday despite our efforts to corral them.  She was wild as wild gets and I won't forget the way my heart raced as she tore toward me, slung to the ground, wings outstretched, tail feathers spread wide all the while hissing and growling at me.  Sheez, I was just trying to help but I won't soon do that again.  So, we instructed our coop sitter to provide our pet turkey with water to curb the her potential wandering bone.  And, we were successful.  She left the nest with 7 babies.  The silliest looking things.  So gangly and noisy. 

The list goes on: let the chickens out in the morning, clean and refill water fountains, re-fill feeders/toss out treats, open coop doors for ventilation.  Evenings are just about the same; refill feeders/toss out treats, clean and refill water fountains if needed, close up the coop doors, collect eggs (making sure to collect un-marked eggs under Helen) and secure doors.  Let's not forget: water the garden, collect mail and should the barn cats be so gracious as to deposit any 'hunted' material on the front porch....to please toss into the trash.  Ah, the day in the life of a chicken sitter.

So, you see folks....get a good humored, patient and animal lovin' coop sitter.  Bribe them with fresh eggs, trade them summer souffles and pay them in cash to return!