Florida Bullfrog
Crowing
Many of my free ranger red jungle fowl hybrid hens are starting to set clutches now, within a span of 2-3 days. That pleases me, as that means that their chicks will hatch about the same time and they'll all be raising clutches together. That should be good for overwhelming predators. My last free range RJF hybrid hen to raise a clutch hatched hers back in December, but where I haven't banded their legs I cannot tell them apart to know whether one of my current setting hens is that same hen.
What surprises me is that I have a singular RJF hybrid hen that's been penned raising her bitties since they hatched around 1/31. She's now just started setting on a new clutch, but it was a clutch she stole from a setting OEGB hen that was incubating my crosses between the OEGB hen and Tyrant, the RJF hybrid rooster in my current profile pic for my American game bantam project. Here's what I found this morning when I checked the little OEGB hen:
As the day has progressed the RJF hen hasn't budged and the OEGB hen seems like she's giving up. Which may be for the best because the RJF hen will be the better mother based on my experience over the past year.
Normal behavior? That's a turnaround from her hatching a clutch on 1/31 to today 3/31.
Based on the fact that so many of my RJF hybrid hens are going broody within a couple of days of each other, I'm thinking its a left-over wild trait or instinct that responding to the length of days or weather. Our highs are getting into the 90sF now.
What surprises me is that I have a singular RJF hybrid hen that's been penned raising her bitties since they hatched around 1/31. She's now just started setting on a new clutch, but it was a clutch she stole from a setting OEGB hen that was incubating my crosses between the OEGB hen and Tyrant, the RJF hybrid rooster in my current profile pic for my American game bantam project. Here's what I found this morning when I checked the little OEGB hen:
As the day has progressed the RJF hen hasn't budged and the OEGB hen seems like she's giving up. Which may be for the best because the RJF hen will be the better mother based on my experience over the past year.
Normal behavior? That's a turnaround from her hatching a clutch on 1/31 to today 3/31.
Based on the fact that so many of my RJF hybrid hens are going broody within a couple of days of each other, I'm thinking its a left-over wild trait or instinct that responding to the length of days or weather. Our highs are getting into the 90sF now.
