Tuesday's Tipster - Doyle Johnson

Congratulations Doyle on being selected this weeks Tuesday's Tipster!!

Recycling Strong Willed Hens Sitting on the Cage Bottom

Each year, I have had strong willed hens that would not accept any nest I have tried. Again this year, I had two of my most prized hens wanting to lay on the cage bottom!

I tried moving the eggs to a outside nest, but they would not go to the nest. They persistently continued building a weak nest on the cage bottom from burlap they pulled out of the outside nest. Even after all of my efforts to try and change their behavior, the hens still were what poultry breeders refer to as being "broody". That is they still wanted to sit on the bottom of the cage, as if they were sitting on a proper nest.

So I moved each hen to a flight and left them for three days with other young birds I had weaned. In the flight, they moved around and forgot about sitting on the floor. Then I move each back to their cages with the cocks and each within a week had move to the outside nest and laid eggs!

This is the first time, I have gotten hens to use the nest that was provided for them! Each hen now not only laid in the proper nest, but now have eggs that have hatched, and the their babies are doing fine. Since this success, I have move a bronze hen to the flight in the same manner and returned her and now she is on eggs in the proper nest. I do not know if this is the answer but it has worked for these three hens!

Thanks so much Doyle for sharing this great tip with us! You are an invaluable friend who with almost no notice comes to my rescue! I hope all of you bloggers have friends you can count on like Doyle!!

Tuesday's Tipster is a regular feature of this blog! Just send your tips to canarytales@juno.com and write blog tip in the subject line to identify your Tuesday's Tip! Please be a friend and share a tip with us!