The broody was the best. She was already a "lap" chicken , so she is easy to handle. Never once did she peck at me or get upset while I checked the eggs under her. Today I checked while they were hatching and even handled a couple of the early hatching chicks from under her (they had dried and were nice and spunky). It was amazing since she was so calm while I petted her the chicks did not perceive me as a threat at all. They were just as calm as she was, they did not freak out or run from my hand like I was a predator. They keyed off her reactions. When I have gotten day olds they all freak out when I go to pick them up until they figure things out. It's like these broody hatched chicks have a head start with Mom, I am already convinced it makes a difference. Plus I just put the eggs under her and she did all the work; no messing with temps, humidity, turning, worrying about power outages. I am officially on the broody bandwagon!
