Bog Myrtle & Peat

Six weeks after her pheasant poults were taken away and sent to the wood, the silkie x sussex hen has gone broody again. I knew that silkies were pretty obsessive mothers, but I never imagined that she would be so keen to rear another batch of chicks so soon after the first.

When I picked her up today, I found that she is as skinny as a pin and her breast-bone is sticking out. I think this is a combination of worms and not leaving enough time to recover from the last time she was broodie. It’s about time that I wormed all the hens anyway, but I think I’ll put a stop to this broodiness before it goes any further so that she can go into the winter putting weight on rather than frittering her energy away by sitting on plastic eggs.