On Thursday, when I got home, I went outside to get our daily egg from Olivia. Whe I opened the door she yelled at me and told me to go away. I figured she must be laying an egg, so I left her alone. I went outside an hour later, and sure enough...Olivia was still in the nest box. She yelled again and I started to get nervous. My first thought was, "Is she egg-bound?" I tried to look at her vent and see if anything was wrong, but everything was fine. Then the idea came to me. "A broody hen?" I put my hand under her and sure enough...there was an egg. Olivia is a Bantam Cochin hen that I bought at a fair because she had layed two eggs in one day! The previous owners had said she would steal the other hen's eggs and would sit on them. I didn't really believe this until now! I think I'll try to find a few fertile eggs for her to hatch. (None of her's are fertile because we don't have a rooster.) I think Olivia would be a great mom to a few chicks of her own...
Picture of Olivia below
Picture of Olivia below
My little cochin bantam chick that I have now, (Teddy) was raised by his momma and she was very sweet to her babies. She had at least 15 or 20 chicks under her that she took care of! Were going to talk to a friend tomorrow about possibly buying some eggs from her for Olivia to hatch. I feel bad taking the un-fertile eggs from Olivia...she starts to cry
Once we have some fertile eggs under her that she can keep, she'll be happy
