Broody Hen

Hi, it's Celia again!

Our hens lay an egg every day or so. We have roosters, so sometimes the eggs are fertilized (they have a  white "bull's eye" on the yolk). But to get chicks, one of our hens needs to go broody. That means she feels like sitting on the eggs. In all the years Mom has had chickens, only one hen has decided to go broody. But now Mom thinks she has another one. And Mom is thrilled. She gets excited over the strangest things.

Mom thinks the hen is broody because it hasn't gotten off the nest for 3 days. And when Mom takes the eggs out from under her she puffs up real big and gives Mom the stink eye. So Mom took the hen off the nest and put it inside the cat carrier (not to be confused with the dog pen that we use to separate the baby goat from her mom). She put the cat carrier inside the hen house to keep it safe and to stop it from hopping from nest to nest. After the hen is done laying all the eggs she wants to hatch, she'll sit on them for 21 days. Then all of the eggs should hatch within 24 hours of each other and we'll have baby chicks!