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Update on my broody brood. Ramblin' Rose has made it into the old right side coop, which we had put up a baby ramp, finally. She decided to do so about 5 days ago when a light rain came in. I heard her make it up the ramp that evening as the bramble babes chirped very loudly while they figured...

Well, for those who enjoy my updates (thank you @Ursuline Chick ) Last night Ramblin Rose went back to the brambles. Actually she pulled up into a corner of the chicken yard, again not able to get the chicks up the ramp into one of the old side hutches, even with the baby ramp. Sadly it was...

Okay BYC folks. I don't get it (well I do and I don't). Ramblin Rose was able to keep 4 chicks in tight tow through brambles, down the whole side yard, under a cubbyhole in the raised old coop, out today to get food, water, enjoy the chicken yard...all 4 tightly in tow. Now, another broody I...

As requested, pics of Ramblin' Rose (@fisherlady ) Close up of momma and one chick who peeked out (momma is very protective so the other 3 are under and behind her). She didn't bring them into the side coop, deciding to stay in the cubbyhole under the OLD side coop. She's behind the board...

Update on Ramblin' Rosie (thanks for the name @fisherlady ). For those who haven't been following, this is the "missing" hen that the neighbors called me up to warn me I had a hen in the brambles (they were removing an old apple tree on the fence line and didn't want to disturb her). I had NO...

Got a closer look from my neighbor's yard after the apple tree came down. Nope. It's a different hen. This one isn't the Barney girl of BBQ fame. She's a Cream Barney mix on a pile of seafoam colored eggs. She was off the nest at noon for food and water, so we'll see if she's on this afternoon...

Okay, sometimes you just need a little help from your neighbors (who are great people btw). I had sadly lost my great-grandma Cream Legbar recently (she was 9 and has been instrumental in developing my olive egger flock), and that night on lock up I knew I'd be down a bird. I counted....18...

Follow up...YES 5 chicks hatched. Momma is making it hard to see them, but she's moved off the nest. I'd removed the clears already, and the "maybe" one didn't hatch (was sludge, so a quitter). I have 5 very sweet looking chicks. I'll keep them in that side coop for a couple of weeks until...

Good news. Another reliable hen has gone broody in the main hutch. She happily moved to a quiet side hutch where she is completely isolated and on her own. I candled today, at day 3-4. I *think* 5 of the 9 are developing, 1 a maybe, 3 probably clears. So hopefully 5 developing chicks. (About...

Update on BBQ Broody: Well for the last 3 days she kept getting off the nest for significant time leaving eggs cold. Today the nest was completely empty with her nowhere in sight. So...since she had broken an egg (which was not developed) several days ago, and, the netting her nest was in...

I'm so sorry to hear of your difficulties. I'd love for you to drop by some day!

Update on "BBQ" Broody (photo above). Well, I candled 3 of the 8 (she is a particularly ferocious broody, and I value my knuckles)...all 3 showed about 2 weeks worth of development...so they are developing. My thinking is the chick I saw a few days ago was the result not of a hatching attempt...

Update on Broody that got skunked. The second emergency clutch after the skunk didn't go quite as hoped. Of 10, 8 seemed to be developing at week 1. BUT for some odd reason (likely the hen was unsettled after the skunk raid) one egg hatched a day earlier than the others and momma abandoned the...

Three cheers to my broody Barnevelder-Cochin mix. A very experienced momma, she is currently sitting on 8 eggs (8 of the original 10 were fertile on candling day 5). This is the SECOND setting after a mishap with the first setting. What kind of mishap you ask? Well the first set of 10 eggs went...

Thank you for sharing that article. However it draws a fairly sensationalized inaccurate conclusion. Hens do not change into roosters as the heading states. It is true that when the left ovary recedes or is injured, the right gonad will take over and produce androgens (male hormones). It always...

That's a misnomer. Females don't switch into males. They can't reproduce as males. When a hen ages, or other environmental factors occur, her female hormones can deplete leaving male hormones (just as in human female menopause), and the hen can go through henopause. This can cause some...

Not in my personal experience. I have had ALL male hatches under a broody (several of them) one year. Overall...after 10 years of broody hatching...I'm pretty confident it's close to 50/50. Some years run female, others half/half, others run male. A broody doesn't change the DNA in the egg...

Update: Bar has fledged her 3, 1CL female and 2 remaining Barnie (not sure what happened to one, just disappeared?). Brownie has fledged her 3 Barnie babes...so I've got six 4 to 5 week olds huddling with Creme in the nest at night. Creme is thrilled to be auntie to them at night and chooks...

Update: Brownie hatched out 3 lovely Barnie babes. I've kept her locked up in that side coop so that Bar doesn't bully her or the babes as Bar is so defensive. Bar lost the male CL I'm pretty sure to a rat. Found it chewed up in the run. Oh how I hate rats. But she has 1CL and 3 Barnie babes...

Drama has settled down in the coop. Bar is happy in the run with the 5 remaining chicks who look good Brownie has one Barnie little head poking up from her feathers. I won't look deeper until tomorrow. She has a safe set up for the chicks. Cochine is happy as a clam in her old nest now...