Crazy Hen...Emily is broody (Well, not anymore.. Quit on Day 16)

[speckledhen]

My black Rock, Emily, is broody for the first time. Now. When the leaves are falling and the nights are already in the 30's. Crazy hen! Because I have lost so many hens this year to internal laying and crop ailments, we decided to let her sit. She has five Delaware and two Del/EE eggs under her in the little Firetower coop.

Emily is 36 weeks old today.

Here is our Emmy:

 

[Tanichca]

congrats! Keep us posted! i just LOOOOOOOOVE hatching threads!

for you!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Emily is so pretty.

 

[speckledhen]

She is a big wide load of a girl with lots of petticoat fluff. Should handle those eggs with ease.

 

[Serrin]

Cyn, that Emily is a beautiful little girl! I've got everything crossed out west here that she does a bang up job her first time. Yeah, she must be a bit touched in the head to go broody at this time of the year. But if she has even half of the fluff as she appears to have in her picture, she shouldn't have any problems at all, provided of course that she sticks with it and keeps that big fluffy butt on the nest!!

Keep us posted and let us know how she does! Yaaaay!! Broodies!! Go Girl! GOOOO!!!!!

 

[PepsNick]

Crazy Emily!! Well it's always good to have more chicks, right? I'm near you and brrr... It sure is cooollldddd!!

 

[speckledhen]

Found Emily sitting...with 3 eggs out in front of her, cooling off. She is definitely broody and sitting, but she needs to get that she must cover the eggs!

She can fluff out as large as any Orp I've ever seen! That is one big Rock hen!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Haha!!! It's even better when you have a Tiny Banty hen and she is setting right in the middle of a pile of 20 - 30 + eggs!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
She's practicing her own form of birth control.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself

 

[speckledhen]

She did pluck her breast feathers, but she keeps pushing or letting the eggs roll out from under her. I removed the two EE eggs so maybe she will be more comfortable with just five. When DH leans in and rearranges the eggs, she talks to him and then comes out and wants to sit on his hands rather than her eggs, LOL. She is so sweet now as a broody, whereas she was a mean old snake on the nest every other time. My younger blue Ameraucana, Nora, was like that, mean as a non-broody, but very sweet as a broody. Weird bunch I have.