Illinois...

[ChicagoClucker]

Well, our "Bantam Menace" is living up to her nick-name again.... This morning, I heard squawking & flapping as the flock quickly ran out from under their fav tree. The source of the commotion: Little Cookie (her real name). The bantam orp had the treat bowl all to herself. I'm guessing she bullied one of the roos which made him cry out & caused the panic.
,
Cookie already went broody 3x this year. About 2 weeks ago, she left her last brood & started laying eggs. Just a few min ago while collecting the eggs, I found Cookie making her broody noise again. Of course this would explain why the rest of the flock ran away from her this morning. She's turning into the "Cookie Monster" again.

Is it normal for broodies to be THIS broody? How many broods can one hen have in a year? For now, I'm hoping she was just laying & grumpy. I'm still trying to get our numbers down.

They say those bantams were made to be broody, lol. Love the Cookie Monster name.

I had a little drama this afternoon also. My son was calling me from the yard, I ran out and he said I just pulled this off her foot! It was a mouse glue trap! I left the people door open on the garage, we use the glue traps during the winter cause the mice like to use it as a vacation home during the cold months. Apparently Zoe snuck in and really stepped in it! She is the Marans so feet and feathers covered. It automatically took me back about 25 years when my daughter had gum in her hair. So I asked my son to hold her and I ran in and got some Hellmann's Mayo and it worked wonderfully. My son and I are a sticky mess, but Zoe is good to go.

 

[MeepBeep]

Is it normal for broodies to be THIS broody?  How many broods can one hen have in a year?  For now, I'm hoping she was just laying & grumpy.  I'm still trying to get our numbers down.

My bantams are the most broody birds I have, and they get all sorts of feather puffing grumpy and irritable when broody... They will also stay broody as long as there are eggs to sit on in the nesting box... The only way I can break their broody habits is to diligently collect the eggs as soon as they are laid and remove all fake 'training' eggs from the nesting boxes... But, I find just letting them stay broody and putting in a few more nesting boxes for the other birds to work better as I really don't need the bantam eggs...

 

[EggheadWI]

One of my Silkie x hens hatched out a nice brood a few eeks ago. I left her with the others but in a big cage. One by one the other Silkies got in with her, so i finally ditched the cage. Now there are 7 babies and 5 mommies. Every night they sleep in a big pile.

 

[jonezjollyfarm]

One of my Silkie x hens hatched out a nice brood a few eeks ago. I left her with the others but in a big cage. One by one the other Silkies got in with her, so i finally ditched the cage. Now there are 7 babies and 5 mommies. Every night they sleep in a big pile.

Im hoping one of my girls will hatch chicks in the spring. I hope I can allow them to stay with the flock too.

 

[rikd]

seeking near will/grundy county IL, perfer barred rock hens 7-15 months, wouldn't mind a mixed lot either looking for a total of 4 hens no roosters. must be "cold hardy" breed, would love 2 barred rock 2 white barred rock, but any cold hardy breed will do. message me or comment if interested in selling ty

 

[cavemanrich]

seeking near will/grundy county IL, perfer barred rock hens 7-15 months, wouldn't mind a mixed lot either looking for a total of 4 hens no roosters. must be "cold hardy" breed, would love 2 barred rock 2 white barred rock, but any cold hardy breed will do. message me or comment if interested in selling ty

Kankakee county fairgrounds on September 6. You can get all you need ... here is the link to their calendar of events. I'm going there this time. Looking for a few banties.


http://www.kankakeefair.org/Calendar.htm

 

[MeepBeep]

seeking near will/grundy county IL, perfer barred rock hens 7-15 months, wouldn't mind a mixed lot either looking for a total of 4 hens no roosters. must be "cold hardy" breed, would love 2 barred rock 2 white barred rock, but any cold hardy breed will do. message me or comment if interested in selling ty

Kankakee county fairgrounds on September 6.    You can get all you need ... here is the link to their calendar of events.  I'm going there  this time.  Looking for a few banties. 


http://www.kankakeefair.org/Calendar.htm

Having sold exotic animals at that show many years ago when I was in the animal trade business and having been there as a customer in the years after... One big word of advice, get their EARLY with a flashlight or two in hand! There is a TON of inside vendor swapping and big dealer trading that happens before the general public shows up, a lot of the better stuff is spoken for in the first minutes of the show with many vendors closed up and on the way out the door by 8 or 9am... The calendar says public doors at 5am, I generally get there an hour before that if I'm buying... Bring a wagon and crates/boxes with you through the doors don't depend on a seller 'holding' a bird for you while you go back to the car to fetch a box...

 

[cavemanrich]

Every time I went there, I never left empty handed. Sometimes I found and purchased Items I didn't know I needed.

In reality I didn't need. ... ALWAYS A FUN TIME.

 

[rikd]

Kankakee county fairgrounds on September 6.    You can get all you need ... here is the link to their calendar of events.  I'm going there  this time.  Looking for a few banties. 


http://www.kankakeefair.org/Calendar.htm

c ya i know was hoping to find sooner thpught but ty much

 

[NotAFarm]

Here is a link with info for an animal swap in Freeport, IL on Sept. 12 for anyone in northwestern Illinois.

http://stephenson-county-il.org/events/illinois-game-pet-breeders-swap-meet/