CurvyCoop
Songster
Here in the Netherlands we're currently having a heatwave (let's be real, where in the world aren't we having a heatwave right now, climate change's a bitch) so when one of my dutch booted bantams was taking a little longer to lay her egg I wasn't that worried. My coop is nice and cool, but egg laying is still hard work so I figured she was just taking it easy. When she was still on the nest 4 hours later I started to get a little worried. I reached for her to see if she had laid an egg and she had but she puffed up and got all offended that I reached under her. I'd never seen her like that! Even after I removed her egg she stayed on the nest. I picked her up and put her back outside, kept my eye on her for a while but she didn't go back to the nest. That night though I found her trying to bed down in the nest again! I picked the cheeky lady up and plopped her down on the roost where she stayed the night.
The next day I found her with her sister in an adjacent nest. Her sister was laying and she was just being angry about everything I guess haha. I picked her up again and put her back out with the others and again she stayed out, though she is carrying herself more puffed up and ruffled than usual. That night she was sleeping on the roost with the rest, but my roost is pretty wide because I also have large girls and for a little bantam like her that means she can just rest her entire body on it really. So when I checked on them that night I did find her on the roost but again she looked all puffed up and grumpy.
This morning I haven't caught her on any nests yet, but she does look a little more puffy than her sister.
She still eats and drinks normally, her poops are normal poops and not huge broody poops. She doesn't lay everyday so I can't be sure she's stopped laying.
Could my little dutch booted bantam be broody? And if she is, wth? Why pick now, off all times!?
EDIT: I forgot to mention, I have had a single ceramic egg in all three of my nests since they got here about a month and a half ago. At first this was because the bantam ladies were very particular about where they deigned to lay their egg and they were getting more and more creative with it to the detriment of my sanity. Putting a ceramic egg in each nest and also locking them in with the nests finally convinced them to lay there, but then they stopped when I removed the ceramic eggs so I had to put them back. Now I think it's been long enough that I could remove them and they'll keep laying there, but my other chickens are getting old enough to lay, one pullet especially, and I've already seen her checking out the nesting area so I kinda want her to know where to lay right from the start.
The next day I found her with her sister in an adjacent nest. Her sister was laying and she was just being angry about everything I guess haha. I picked her up again and put her back out with the others and again she stayed out, though she is carrying herself more puffed up and ruffled than usual. That night she was sleeping on the roost with the rest, but my roost is pretty wide because I also have large girls and for a little bantam like her that means she can just rest her entire body on it really. So when I checked on them that night I did find her on the roost but again she looked all puffed up and grumpy.
This morning I haven't caught her on any nests yet, but she does look a little more puffy than her sister.
She still eats and drinks normally, her poops are normal poops and not huge broody poops. She doesn't lay everyday so I can't be sure she's stopped laying.
Could my little dutch booted bantam be broody? And if she is, wth? Why pick now, off all times!?
EDIT: I forgot to mention, I have had a single ceramic egg in all three of my nests since they got here about a month and a half ago. At first this was because the bantam ladies were very particular about where they deigned to lay their egg and they were getting more and more creative with it to the detriment of my sanity. Putting a ceramic egg in each nest and also locking them in with the nests finally convinced them to lay there, but then they stopped when I removed the ceramic eggs so I had to put them back. Now I think it's been long enough that I could remove them and they'll keep laying there, but my other chickens are getting old enough to lay, one pullet especially, and I've already seen her checking out the nesting area so I kinda want her to know where to lay right from the start.
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