A Tale of Cabbage

I went to our local hardware store recently and ended up in discussion with a fellow chicken farmer.  We came to discuss winter habits of hens especially how they could get “coop sour” when shut into the coop for too long during a stretch of cold weather.  Eventually hens will discover that they can peck away at their own eggs and then the fun and games will begin.  I had noticed that Janerella had begun the habit one morning and even though I had plenty of oyster shell lying about the coop she was going at the egg like a regular jack hammer. 

The farmer’s eyes lit up and he said with great enthusiasm “Cabbage”.

“Cabbage?”  I repeated.

“Cabbage.  Get yourself a bolt and a hook screw and string the cabbage up.  They will love it.”

I now had a mission but a one liner recommendation is not that easy in a small town.  The local grocery store only had sour cabbage at a hefty price and while I love my little Henriettas I was not going to pay $7.00 for a cabbage.  Eventually I made my way to another grocery store and then laid out the bolts and string for John to hook the contraption up.

Curious as always the hens squawked and ranged around the doorway and even into the coop as we hauled a bench into the space so John could screw in the bolt and tie up the cabbage.  Then we pulled out, along with the bench.  We walked towards the back of the chicken run and observed the hens who swarmed again up to the step and HALTED. 

“What?” they squawked.  They looked, appalled at something round and green swinging back and forth near the doorway.

“Are you going in?”

“Nope, I’m not going in.  You go in.”

“Not me, not until that thing stops swinging.”

The girls were upset, they stood on the step, all 26 of them, for more than an hour, finally they moved back into the grass.  They were not going to attempt a plunge into the room.  At bedtime I had to shoo them in but nope, they were not going over the doorstep.  It was just like when they got the curtain across their little chute.  I quickly solved the problem by inserting the swinging cabbage into their feeder.  Out of sight, out of mind.  In they went.

The following morning I went to water the chicks at 9:00, I noticed that one of the hens had obviously discovered the cabbage was edible as there was a leaf on the floor.  The others were watching her but had not decided if they would take a nibble or not.   Good, I thought, they will get the hang of it.  There had been snow the night before so I was happy they would have a toy to play with while they were cooped up.

Two hours later I went to check up on the darlings.  Hanging from the ceiling was a bolt.  The cabbage was gone, eaten to the very core.

So much for amusing the chicks over a cold spell!  What can I come up with next?