GUESS WHAT! TODAY SHE USED THE NEST BOX!! UPDATE- RATS, NOW WHAT??

[d.k]

* Miss Chook laid her egg in the nest box today-- That makes 3 times in 3 months!!! I was beginning to think she' was determined to shun the thing for the rest of the summer at the very least.

 

[d.k]

*

Got my hopes up too soon again. She's quit the nestbox again and is now digging shallow holes in the dirt and laying her egg smack dab in the middle of the hole. This is completely new!!! What is this silly girl doing??

 

[redkan]

I've found eggs in all sorts of places, including on the ground beneath a beam they roost in at night. I think they need a memo on proper egg-laying procedures.......

 

[d.k]

* Chook needs her memo in braille, if your'e gonna send one.

but seriously, she digs holes to dustbathe all the time, but she never dug one for eggs before-- She can't be getting broody on me with no roo around, can she??

 

[dancingbear]

Yes, she could. They don't need a roo to go broody. They don't know the eggs aren't fertile. But making a nest doesn't mean she's broody. Is she staying on it, and being neurotic about wanting to be on the nest all the time? Sitting all day with a trance-like stare? If not, she's not broody.

A broody hen will try to hatch anything even vaguely egg-like. Golf balls. Rocks. Light bulbs. I have one trying her best to hatch straw. I have 4 broodies right now. All very determined.

 

[d.k]

* Lol-- Well then, I guess she's not broody. . . .Yet. Maybe she's just practicing. I just don't get this new "let's dig an hole and put an egg in the center" manuever. Weird. I need a chicken whisperer!!