Man, just when things get going good with the chickens, something changes....
Just before Hubbie's "big shindig" we had a chicken start brooding. We have no roosters, but you try explaining that to an angry, moody female who thinks she's protecting her young-to-be. :o)
So, Mamacita has been removed from the nest a few times this wkend. I enticed her out once with eggshells. Only once did that work. We tried leaving her overnight in a cage in the run part of our coop (see below). Of course, this morning, after seeing how miserable she was in the cage, i let her out only for her to go back into the nest in the coop. Chickens!??!
Nothing seems to work to get her to stop nesting. The wisest advice i read on Backyard Chicken Forums was that if you have a good brooder, let the poor girl sit on fertile eggs and raise some babies, for crying out loud.
So today, coincidentially i met a very nice woman at the local floral shop that doubly coincidentally lives out in Enumclaw with 125 chickens on her old dairy farm. Killing two figurative birds with one stone, i was able to talk with her about the area (that could potentially be our new home) and about the moody, broody chicken i have. She was such a sweet lady, she has so many fertile eggs that she offered to bring some into me this week.
Now just to talk to it over with Hubbie, and we may very well get some fertile silkies, brahmas, or Easter Eggers.
I think that's awesome that you'll get to have some baby chicks around. Our hens are just about guarunteed not to go broody, so if I ever want to be able to hatch eggs without fooling with an incubator, I'll have to get one of the broody sort.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Mrs. Mama!