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

[pgpoultry]

I've just given eggs to my broody Gold Brahma who is brooding outside (no coop available, her choice and barn being rebuilt) and we are having night frosts. My hen is a great broody (4th time in her 15 months of life), though rather than a rookie.
I hope your girl gets her act in order.

 

[speckledhen]

She seems to be getting the hang of it. We let her out after we got back from town and she pooped a gargantuan dog-like poop, ate, drank, then wanted to go back to her babies. She let my DH lift her back into the coop and seems fine with him "co-parenting". But, they all are, silly hens. He has a way with birds, that's for sure! One of the feed stores has a cockatoo named Olivia in a huge cage. The sign says she may bite, but when she sees my hubby, she comes down the side of the cage and bends her head forward for him to scratch her.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
Saint Thomas of Georgia???

Some folks are blessed with a deep connection to animals, and they to that person.

My dad was like that. He never met an animal he didn't like, and they always all seemed to love him on sight! Dogs that were proclaimed to be half crazy and would tear your arm off, would willingly come to him, tails wagging madly, all but belly crawling, all in the hopes of a kind word and a pat on the head from my dad! I think maybe your DH is much like my daddy Cyn. You lucky woman you!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Tomorrow is Day 5 for Emily. Today, heard Isaac pitching a fit and some hen was cackling from what sounded far away. When I went to see where she was, discovered that it was just Emily in the Firetower, bumping the door to get out. We let her out and all she wanted was to dustbathe, LOL. She hadn't done that since going broody and guess she was feeling a bit unkempt. She's doing quite well so far with her five Delaware eggs.

 

[DDRanch]

Beautiful girl......bet she will be a great mom. updates, please.

 

[speckledhen]

I usually candle a broody's eggs about day 9-10. Hoping for great fertility since I only have three Del hens left and one is not doing well, so I'll lose her.

 

[speckledhen]

Emily and my DH are "co-parenting", LOL. He opens the door to her little coop and pets her. She never fluffs or screeches at us. He asks if she's ready to come out and do her business. He lifts her out of the door. She eats, she poops, she does the wing-flapping, broody war cry, runs a few feet, then she comes back to my DH, who is squatted down waiting for her. She taps his leg with her beak and looks up at him. He asks if she's ready to go back to her babies. She allows him to pick her up and place her back inside the Firetower. She goes back to her eggs and squirms her big bum down on top of them. The only hen who has ever been like that was my Olivia. Sweetest broodies on the planet, those two!

 

[Orchid]

Quote:
That's pretty darn cute.

 

[speckledhen]

It will be a miracle if these eggs hatch. We continually find Emily "relocating" her nest to the bare wood floor in her little coop. We are daily having to push an egg or two underneath her, even finding an occasional one cool to the touch. Friday is Day 9 and we plan to candle on Day 10 to see how many of these are tough enough to have survived my newbie broody so far.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
I know this is going to sound terribly cruel Cyn, and honestly, I do NOT mean it to sound that way, but part of me hopes, when you candle, that there isn't a single one developing!

It's just such bad timing on Emily's part. Maybe come spring, she'll have gotten the hang of this broody business enough to hatch out a proper clutch and not loose a single one to commitment issues.

I'll still keep her in my special little file of chicken prayers none the less

only because I love to see little mama chickens running around with their little babies all clustered around them like a little fuzzy cloud!

Please post the results of the candling session on Saturday, won't you?

Is that going to be a night time operation? Or is the Fire Tower dark enough inside in the middle of the day to allow you to see them? Just curious. Hey! Post a picture of the Fire Tower too, would ya? I've been trying to visualize this thing since the first time I saw you mention it. I keep coming up with a blank page!

And of course, inquiring minds like to know these things!

Personally, I can hardly wait for next spring to see if Kathy's little EE mama, who is now MY little EE mama [still working on a name. How does Maggie strike ya??] will go broody for me here.

Oh! How I do hope so!!! I think getting to watch her raise a little flock of her very own would be marvelous!