My favorite hen is missing... Update IS BACK & BROODY! after 2 days!

[hipeatall]

Well, Nan hasn't come out from under the barn since I came up with my grand plan... it's like she knows or something

or perhaps she is in "lockdown"... hmmm... so I wait...

 

[LarryPQ]

Sneaky broody....

 

[hipeatall]

Soooo... can you believe Nan is STILL under the barn? Goodness, I really figured this would be over by now.
When I look under the barn, I can only see her... I don't see any chicks. I'm thinking if the eggs were going to hatch, it would've already happened don't you think? I spent pretty much the entire weekend working out in the back pasture with the chickens working on a new coop and she did not come out once.
I'm learning I'm not the most patient person...

 

[LarryPQ]

Any moment now...

 

[hipeatall]

Oh my goodness... I guess I just needed to put it out there cause she came out into the yard and I was able to capture her (picture me chasing her all over the back pasture with a chicken net) and put her in a cage. I laid out a blanket and had to lay down flat to get an arm under the barn (this really concerned my golden retriever, Dottie - I'm sure I looked pretty silly even to a dog!) and then used a small plastic rake to carefully remove the eggs (4 of them) out from under the barn. As I was suspecting (because of the amount of time that has passed) the eggs were no good

... one broke open and the others felt almost hollow they were so light.
Nan's being really vocal and seems pretty unhappy with me... but, I feel like I need to help her break this broodiness so I'm gonna keep her in the cage without a nest for a bit (couple of days, I guess) and see how she does. I'm also gonna see about using some wire fencing material to keep her from going back under the barn.
I'm a little sad not to have a little army of nanites... that would have been pretty cool... but, I do feel a bit relieved to have her back.

 

[LarryPQ]

Are you going to give her a few chicks?

 

[hipeatall]

Ya know, I thought about doing that. I have some chicks set to hatch this Friday (fingers crossed!)... but they are wee bantams and she really seems pretty upset in the cage... I was going to try and put different eggs under her... but she flipped the nest box I had in there twice so I took it out...

 

[Toast n Jelly]

What a relief not to have to worry about her anymore!

 

[WhetzelMomma]

I wonder if you gave her back the bad eggs that are still intact, and then when your incubator eggs hatch... put them under her? She might fall for it, and might not mind waiting if she has eggs to wait on!

 

[WhetzelMomma]

Maybe you could just give her hay to nest with. None of my laying hens like their nesting box anymore. They prefer the ground. I wonder if your girl does too?