I have my first broody ever !!!!

[Crazy4Chicks]

I was wondering if any of my girls would ever go broody....

The day started like any other day - DH let the chickens out this morning and left for work I went out shortly after to feed them and say good morning - all were out and about like normal.
So I came back in the house did some chorse no big deal. DH came home at noon we went to collect eggs and Lacey was in the coop looked like she was going to lay an egg - normally we just reach under them and grab the eggs and wait for who ever to finish grab that egg and go - DH went to reach under Lacey and she puffed and GROWLED sounded like a big mean junk yard dog growl - I thought hmm OK - so DH tried again to get the eggs - Lacey stood up grabbed DH's arm ripped it off and beat him with it LOL -- so we went out of the coop in hurry !!!
we gave her a few minutes and we decided that what ever eggs she is setting to let her keep them ( like we had a chance of taking them anyway LOL ) I managed to pick her up and DH held on to her while I marked the eggs - she has 5 - I dont know who laid what and dont know if any are fertile - since I only have a banty roo in there so I am going to try to candle them in a few days - if possible I am going to sneak a few of my banty hens eggs under there and hope she can at least hatch out the banty eggs - I have two banty eggs in the bator I will candle in a few days and if they are growing I will give them to Lacey to finish.

since I have never had a broody before - do I need to seperate her from the others? or just leave her alone? no -one is going near her !

I will put some food in there close to her and the water is already in the coop so she will not have to go far.

just weird how fast they go broody !!


Julie

 

[Southerngirl]

Congratulations on your first broody hen ! From past experience I would leave her alone and let her be. You have food and water close by and she will leave the nest every other day to eat and drink. Some of the best broody hens I have ever had were little bantie hens. If you reached in the nest you had to count your fingers to make sure they were all still there. She should be a great mom if she is that protective of her nest. Good luck !!!

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

well that goofey girl - left the eggs !! she is acting like nothing ever happened - so we are going to be buliding her a hoop coop/run in the morning and getting her all set up in her own place to see if she wants to stay broody or not, since she is fairly young and this is her first time I think that was just her way of saying " hmm I might be doing this for real in a few days " so I took her eggs away since someone pecked one of them and cracked it open - I have them on the counter and will place them in a nest we are putting together for her. she will have plenty of food, water,shelter and room to walk around. going to to leave her in there a few days and see what happens - if she has changed her mind no big deal we will let her back out again, we are keeping the hoop coop inside the run with the other hens so - she will still be part of the flock in case she does not go broody again - we will not have problems putting her back in with them, but we will leave the hoop coop on place for anyone who needs it.

chickens can drive you crazy sometimes

Julie