LateBirdFarms
Crowing
Okay, so its almost November and I'm in what would be considered the north end of central Ontario (or the southern area of northern Ontario?) and the weather is going to get unpleasantly chilly very soon. My head hen is determined to be broody but she's young, about 10months old and has never had chicks in her care and I've only done brooder day olds, never broody raised.. My setup is great for the winter, that's not my concern. Nor is Bug's ability to mother, my concern is that if I stick some fertilized eggs under her that I'll be putting her through undue stress and giving the chicks a harder run at growing. I'm probably overthinking this, but I can't decide if I'd be putting Bug through more stress breaking her broodiness again, I've had to cage her twice in the last three weeks, and she stayed fine for a week in both cases after 3 days in the cage and then went broody again. This time she went to work on her breast feathers while my other girls crammed themselves in the nest box with her before I caught her. And of course I stuck the crate back in the shed thinking she was done her silliness. So do I take the crate back out or do I start looking for some hatching eggs or do I wage the broody war again?