Broody hen adventures

Back in March and April, my Blue Laced Wyandotte started to be broody. This means that she was spending nearly all day and night sitting in a nesting box, only leaving to eat, drink, and poop. I was preparing for my move so I didn't pay her much attention.

After the move she stopped being broody for a while, but then took it up again. Most of May and June were spent in the nesting boxes. She became more ornery as I kept reaching under her to remove the eggs she was sitting on.

After two of my other girls died from heat exhaustion, I decided to let the Wyandotte try to incubate some eggs. I gathered a few and stuck them underneath her. All was good for two days. Then I checked on her, and found that she had left the incubating eggs and instead was sitting on fresh eggs that another hen had recently laid.

So I decided that she needed to incubate eggs in her own little pen, with a single nest, forcing her to sit on the correct eggs. It took six days to gather six (hopefully fertilized) eggs. I made sure to regularly tip them from one side to the other while they waited (to keep the yolk from sticking to one side of the egg, which harms development).

I put her in her pen a day early.

 And then arranged the six eggs in the nest, and put the top of the crate on to give her shelter/privacy.

Over the course of the next week, the Wyandotte pushed the eggs out of the back of the crate, where she slept at night, and spent all day hanging out outside the crate. *face palm*

I let her out after a week. I was about ready to butcher her - if she's not laying because she's broody but she won't successfully sit on a clutch of eggs, her only value is as eye candy.

Lo and behold, the week spent in the pen has broken her of the broody state. She is now laying eggs again, almost one per day. I can tell because they're a much paler color than the eggs I was collecting while she was broody.

I decided to buy some chicks online, as four hens isn't quite enough eggs for me except during the summer months. I decided to order a few silkies since they have a great reputation for sitting and raising chicks. The place I ordered from had a minimum of 15 bantams per order. My friend Sherry joined the order to get more Golden Sebrights for herself. Ironically, while looking at the website, I decided to throw in a few unusual bantam breeds just for fun. I guess I CAN keep a few hens around just as eye candy.