I have a hen who was in the nest this evening - later than any of them are usually there. She was pancaked into the nest, giving me the stink eye and attempted to remove my arm when I checked under her for eggs. (There were 2) I did take the eggs, she flattened herself further down into the nest box. She did eventually leave the nest, but came back a little while later, poking around but didn't find eggs so she jumped up to the roost. Now, I may be jumping the gun, but I'm hoping she's thinking about setting. I put some ceramic eggs into the nest box next to the one she was in (She was, of course, in the favorite laying place for all the hens. Six hens, eight nests, they all want the same one.) I'm hoping she's feeling broody and wants to sit on those eggs. If she does, I'm going to leave them with her and order 4-6 chicks from our local farm supply store. I didn't get any Easter Eggers or Welsummers with the batch I got earlier, so I would get 2-3 each of them. Maybe only two each. I can see things getting out of control quickly if I don't think about this... I already have 30 four-week old chicks. Ten so far appear to possibly be cockerels. At least that's how many bigger, redder combs I see.
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