Hello, all.
I have a big, beautiful BO named Buttercup, my favorite of my hens, and I raised her from the moment she pecked out of the egg. She's 8 months old this week, and has gone broody on me.
She's been disappearing on me since yesterday afternoon, for quite lengthy periods of time, only emerging when she seems to be absolutely starving. I figured she was broody because her usual two or three eggs aren't in her nest box or the shed these past couple of days.
So, this morning I decided to follow her secretly so I could make certain she wasn't sick and really had gone broody. I fed her, and she gobbled it all up in a hurry and, as she's been doing, immediately headed off in the general direction that she came. I sneaked up behind her and followed as we rounded the corner of our shed, going past the dog pen, past the coup, and around another corner to where we'd stacked some things to go to Goodwill and Salvation Army a week before. This included several cardboard boxes full of things and two small, beat up dog houses and crates that our Great Pyr can't fit into anymore.
Well, Buttercup had picked out one of the dog houses as her spot and there she sat on some eggs! I hadn't even cleaned up the thing yet, as you can see, but apparently it suited Buttercup just fine.
I could see three eggs in front of her before she covered them all up, and I took pictures and left her alone. They're not fertilized so I was going to come back with something to put them in since I had to gather eggs from the other two, anyway (my little RIR laid one enormous egg and squawked about it for 12 minutes straight, and my SLW laid two eggs of her own without any to-do).
When I came back and finally coaxed her off the eggs, I was just shocked at what I found underneath her!
TEN EGGS!!! She laid ten eggs the other day!!!! *In my excitement I said "the other day" but she must have started early Monday... my husband lets the hens out at 5am before work each morning...
I can't believe it! But I'm so proud of my Buttercup. She's worth her weight in gold and yes, she got several treats today for her efforts.
I have a big, beautiful BO named Buttercup, my favorite of my hens, and I raised her from the moment she pecked out of the egg. She's 8 months old this week, and has gone broody on me.
She's been disappearing on me since yesterday afternoon, for quite lengthy periods of time, only emerging when she seems to be absolutely starving. I figured she was broody because her usual two or three eggs aren't in her nest box or the shed these past couple of days.
So, this morning I decided to follow her secretly so I could make certain she wasn't sick and really had gone broody. I fed her, and she gobbled it all up in a hurry and, as she's been doing, immediately headed off in the general direction that she came. I sneaked up behind her and followed as we rounded the corner of our shed, going past the dog pen, past the coup, and around another corner to where we'd stacked some things to go to Goodwill and Salvation Army a week before. This included several cardboard boxes full of things and two small, beat up dog houses and crates that our Great Pyr can't fit into anymore.
Well, Buttercup had picked out one of the dog houses as her spot and there she sat on some eggs! I hadn't even cleaned up the thing yet, as you can see, but apparently it suited Buttercup just fine.
I could see three eggs in front of her before she covered them all up, and I took pictures and left her alone. They're not fertilized so I was going to come back with something to put them in since I had to gather eggs from the other two, anyway (my little RIR laid one enormous egg and squawked about it for 12 minutes straight, and my SLW laid two eggs of her own without any to-do).
When I came back and finally coaxed her off the eggs, I was just shocked at what I found underneath her!
I can't believe it! But I'm so proud of my Buttercup. She's worth her weight in gold and yes, she got several treats today for her efforts.
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