Desertvalleychickens
Spurred by a Cactus Spine
You have a broody!Update on broody girl:
This was what was in the nest:
View attachment 3757093
There were 14 eggs in there, and all but 2 I am pretty sure were hers.
that said, that means 3-4 weeks of laying -as she is an older girl...so all but 2 had definitely been frozen, 2 were questionable. plus, there is NO WAY she can cover 14 eggs, especially now that in her older years, her egg size has increased. Dark Cornish as squat, compact girls with hard feathering. 6 is good, 8 is an absolute max for those size eggs. I removed them, marked and replaced the 2 that might be okay, and added 5 that were laid today by other girls. We will see how she does. (btw, I'm disappointed that none of her other 2 siblings laid today - I like my DC crosses, which is why I kept the two that may well be ruined - just in case.- I'm hoping at least one hatches - and it is a girl!!!) (Oh, and yes, I added bedding - she wasn't at all happy I disturbed her nest - butI did this when she got off to eat and drink.)
I put in 2 from my EE girls who are penned with my ee boy. I put in one pale green egg, one welsummer egg, and 1 BR egg. These last 3, the girls could have been mated with any one of a number of boys (1/2 EE, 1/2 Red Star Roo; 1/2 DC/ 1/2 EE Roo; BR roo, or my newbies: blue egg layer boy (can't remember his breed? prairie blue bell egger? got him in a straight run batch for $1 clearance when I bought some to put under my broody girls) and my dark young black roo who also came in a clearance run from TSC. The straight run was marked 'Marans', but the girls, if they are marans, are not laying dark like they should, nor are they any where near as heavy as my french black copper marans (though the coloring is similar, they only weigh half what my other girls weigh - they could still put on some weight, but not that much!) So, we will see what happens. March 16th will be the day to 'watch'

I hope nothing happens to the rest of those eggs!