Our Buff Orpington hen is done with her setting and is now taking care of her 3 new chicks. But the broodiness may not be over yet!
Our small bantam Buff Cochin pullet, Pumpkin, may be going broody soon! Before our BO hen went broody, she would puff up when the rooster(or other chickens) got near her, and would take a long time in the nest box when laying her daily egg. She would also go in and out of broodiness. One day she would be broody, then he next she would forget all about it. Until one day she finally got serious and now she has her very own small family of chicks.
Pumpkin, who just started laying less than a month ago, is showing all these signs. She will sometimes fluff up and scream if another chicken goes near her. When laying her egg, she will fluff up and sit on any other eggs. While she's doing this, she will scream loudly at anyone who comes near her. All day, she will sit on some eggs that she laid previously, then she will get off for a while, get back on, and off again. Then the next day she will not sit for a while, then she will act like she's serious about it. But right when we think she's finally settling down, she's off of the eggs again to join the other chickens out in the run.
Her eggs are tiny and we can just imagine how tiny a chick of hers would be, but we currently don't have another bantam rooster like her to fertilize the eggs. A standard Cochin rooster sometimes shares the run with her, but he is too big for her and she runs away from him before he can even get close to her. So her eggs won't hatch. But if she does go broody, we will give her some of our Buff Orp/Cochin eggs so she can hatch them out if she wants.
Pumpkin is still pretty young, but she's crazy enough to want to start her own family soon!
Gotta love the broody hens.
Our small bantam Buff Cochin pullet, Pumpkin, may be going broody soon! Before our BO hen went broody, she would puff up when the rooster(or other chickens) got near her, and would take a long time in the nest box when laying her daily egg. She would also go in and out of broodiness. One day she would be broody, then he next she would forget all about it. Until one day she finally got serious and now she has her very own small family of chicks.
Pumpkin, who just started laying less than a month ago, is showing all these signs. She will sometimes fluff up and scream if another chicken goes near her. When laying her egg, she will fluff up and sit on any other eggs. While she's doing this, she will scream loudly at anyone who comes near her. All day, she will sit on some eggs that she laid previously, then she will get off for a while, get back on, and off again. Then the next day she will not sit for a while, then she will act like she's serious about it. But right when we think she's finally settling down, she's off of the eggs again to join the other chickens out in the run.
Her eggs are tiny and we can just imagine how tiny a chick of hers would be, but we currently don't have another bantam rooster like her to fertilize the eggs. A standard Cochin rooster sometimes shares the run with her, but he is too big for her and she runs away from him before he can even get close to her. So her eggs won't hatch. But if she does go broody, we will give her some of our Buff Orp/Cochin eggs so she can hatch them out if she wants.
Pumpkin is still pretty young, but she's crazy enough to want to start her own family soon!
Gotta love the broody hens.
