Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Achickenwrangler#1]

i found my broody, finally

 

[stonykill]

i found my broody, finally

been there, done that

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Sumatra are pretty game too , huh.

 

[stonykill]

Sumatra are pretty game too , huh.

sure are.

 

[al6517]

i found my broody, finally

Something here tells me they prefer that enviroment for setting their eggs as opposed to the the proverbial BYC painted frillied up toy hen house. Just goes to show we kinda need to pay more attention to what they want not what we think they need based on human emotions.....and internet "research" LOL....... great post thanks for sharing, I 'll bet she'll like it better in there and the chicks will be better off too. so what do you plan to do, leave her there and monitor or move her ??.

 

[Seslar]

Al, your comment reminds me of a Catholic wedding I once attended where the priest told the congregation during the ceremonial remarks how thankful he was that this wedding was being held in a Catholic church, the house of the Lord, and not just someone's backyard; thereby, insulting every darn person gathered there that was not married in a church. To which, I thought, having not been married yet, well, it's my wedding and I'll hold it wherever I please. And eventually, I was married in a lovely barn, and I do believe the Lord was allowed in as well. So I say to each his danged own, being as it's their chickens, er wedding.

 

[stonykill]

Something here tells me they prefer that enviroment for setting their eggs as opposed to the the proverbial BYC painted frillied up toy hen house. Just goes to show we kinda need to pay more attention to what they want not what we think they need based on human emotions.....and internet "research" LOL....... great post thanks for sharing, I 'll bet she'll like it better in there and the chicks will be better off too. so what do you plan to do, leave her there and monitor or move her ??.

painted frilly hen house

. I've got one in hiding now. She has been sitting about 2 weeks. Every few days I see her out to eat. Then as soon as I look away she is gone. I set out extra box traps in the area I think she is in. Unfortunately not much more I can do for her. I had several broods hatch that way last year. Sure I prefer them to brood somewhere where I can lock them up for the night. But some will hide their eggs no matter what you do. In those cases only the strong and smart survive

 

[stonykill]

my best broody, simply named "mama". She is sitting on her 2nd brood of the year so far. She usually sits 3 times a year minimum. She is something. When not broody she sleeps in a "safe" tree with a few roo's. She always lays her eggs in a tin shed next to my workshop. Which I now just call the Sumatra broody shed. She raised many broods in that shed in the last few years. And many of her offspring do the same. She is a very wise bird. knows the ways of the wild world and raises very smart chicks.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Every morning 930 I whistle and she come running for breakfast and dust bowl....if she wasn't my fav, and that darn feral cat sneaking around...I would leave her be,she has such a nice spot, once the peeps start though.I think it would draw them in.I'm putting off moving her for as long as I can..I don't want to move her but she will need some protection., my coop isn't too much different, the planks have shrunk and she can see all around through the spaces, kinda open air (haha) solid though and was pretty cool in there today.... I don't think my coop would gather many oohs and aaahhs on the forum . You know she did the same thing this spring, (ever stuff a broody game hen inside your jacket?) And i took her nest, leaves twigs and the dirt too. She hatched thirteen of fifteen eggs..I'm lining her box with sod again, I think it's more natural and holds the moisture better, when I undid the nest she had it in a little bowl of loamy earth so it just seemed right to scoop that up too. It's just interesting to me, and a bit more natural for them.

 

[stonykill]

Every morning 930 I whistle and she come running for breakfast and dust bowl....if she wasn't my fav, and that darn feral cat sneaking around...I would leave her be,she has such a nice spot, once the peeps start though.I think it would draw them in.I'm putting off moving her for as long as I can..I don't want to move her but she will need some protection., my coop isn't too much different, the planks have shrunk and she can see all around through the spaces, kinda open air (haha) solid though and was pretty cool in there today.... I don't think my coop would gather many oohs and aaahhs on the forum . You know she did the same thing this spring, (ever stuff a broody game hen inside your jacket?) And i took her nest, leaves twigs and the dirt too. She hatched thirteen of fifteen eggs..I'm lining her box with sod again, I think it's more natural and holds the moisture better, when I undid the nest she had it in a little bowl of loamy earth so it just seemed right to scoop that up too. It's just interesting to me, and a bit more natural for them.

I can't begin to tell you how many chicks I have had hatch in a dirt/earth bowl formed into the ground. Game birds are quite interesting. I know my Sumatra's certainly are.