*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[Wyorp Rock]

WYORP ROCK, I have two BO hens that do the same thing. They walk around singing and fluffed up, stay on the nest for a few hours until they lay and then they are out of there. They even tuck eggs under themselves as yours do. I also have a Speckled Sussex that does the same thing. Little teases.

With mine all I have to do is leave a pile of eggs in the nest box and within a few days one of them will take it seriously and plop their fluffy butts down on them.

My last broody hen went broody 24 hours after all 13 hens laid for the first time. I gather eggs in the late afternoon so they were there long enough to do their magic.

I get a kick out her actions. Next spring I will try leaving some eggs to see if she will go broody

Poor girl didn't know where to sleep. Had to pick her up and guide her into the coop. Lool

Poor sweetie...she'll learn quickly.

 

[CuzChickens]

I guess I need to stop being so excited to gather the eggs like every other hour, and start gathering them when I feed the animals in the evening, I might actually have something happen then!

 

[microchick]

@henmania,that is SO adorable. Mine haven't done anything like that thank goodness. This summer though at about 7:30 all the older flock (older meaning 16 months old compared to 4 months old) would head inside to squabble over the best roost spots and the youngsters from the Feb. hatch would head outside to forage and socialize and make me chase them inside every night. Just like teenagers.

Aggie first went broody when she was 9 months old. Lil'Girl when she was 15 months. I have 8 BO hens...no wait, hmmmmmm. I need to count beaks since the last two hatches have added to the flock. Anyway, only 2 have gone broody with any regularity at this point in time. The rest are slackers as in "OH LOOK, girls! Crazy Aggie is wanting to sit on eggs again. Let's give her some more to sit on so we don't have to worry about going broody!"

 

[GardenNut]

One of my girls has definitely gone broody already. She's only been laying about 6-8 weeks too! When I went to lock them up, she was sitting on an empty nest. Talk about giving me the stink eye when I shoved her out of the way checking for eggs! Guess I'll convert one of my small dog crates into a break-a-broody cage tomorrow!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

One of my girls has definitely gone broody already. She's only been laying about 6-8 weeks too! When I went to lock them up, she was sitting on an empty nest. Talk about giving me the stink eye when I shoved her out of the way checking for eggs! Guess I'll convert one of my small dog crates into a break-a-broody cage tomorrow!

A few years back I had a BO lay one egg and then go broody. People told me it wasn't possible but trust me, she was BROODY. I broke her three times over the next month and finally gave up and gave her some chicks to raise. She was an awesome Mama.

 

[GardenNut]

That's one persistent mama!

 

[mamatink7]

We think one of the 22wk old buffs started laying yesterday!!! I spotted an egg on the coop floor, extremely soft shell. It was broken and caved in. I never dealt with soft shell before. Today was a bit harder and in the nesting box. It is a much lighter brown than our Golden Comet or Black Australorp eggs.
I'm so thrilled if this is one of our buffs
How can I prevent soft shells? The flock gets feather fixer feed with oyster shell and omega 3 in separate tin as we are still keeping roo around. They all are in the field all day as well.

 

[CuzChickens]

We think one of the 22wk old buffs started laying yesterday!!! I spotted an egg on the coop floor, extremely soft shell. It was broken and caved in. I never dealt with soft shell before. Today was a bit harder and in the nesting box. It is a much lighter brown than our Golden Comet or Black Australorp eggs.
I'm so thrilled if this is one of our buffs
How can I prevent soft shells? The flock gets feather fixer feed with oyster shell and omega 3 in separate tin as we are still keeping roo around. They all are in the field all day as well.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, sometimes when they start laying, they just start off with weird eggs. I would guess they will be normal in about a week or less.

 

[henmania]

Awww, that is so cute. And funny.

Haha. I was stood there for a good few minutes trying to figure out how she got up there.

 

[henmania]

I get a kick out her actions.  Next spring I will try leaving some eggs to see if she will go broody  

Poor sweetie...she'll learn quickly.

It was good luck I decided to check on her. I assumed she'd follow the larger hen in at night but thought maybe she's the one who didn't let her in lol.