It seems ridiculously early in the year but Red has gone broody after laying sixteen eggs. Yesterday Red was in the nest box from the morning onwards. She finally laid an egg in the afternoon but returned to the nest box. She was still in the nest box when the pop hole had closed and the rest of the girls were in the chicken shed. I lifted Red out of the nest box and perched her in the chicken shed and she stayed perched.
This morning Red went back in the nest box and I knew for certain that she was broody. I lifted Red out and closed the nest boxes for the morning. We had to go out in the afternoon and I knew Silver would want to lay so I had to leave the nest boxes open. On our return Silver was in the nest box with Red.
A little later Silver laid her egg and I closed the nest boxes again. It was getting near to the end of the day so by closing the nest boxes I hoped it would encourage Red to go in the chicken shed at bedtime.
At bedtime Red had perched in the chicken shed. Looking back at last year’s egg records Red only took a two week break each time she went broody. She comes out of it very quickly so a few days of keeping her out of the nest box most of the day will probably break her out of it. She still laid the most eggs last year despite going broody quite regularly.
Hopefully another girl will start laying soon. Gold has been very vocal and has gone to the grit and oyster shell and had a look in the nest box so she could be the next to start laying. I am sure we will be getting more eggs soon.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Hopefully, you’ll break her quickly. She looks as though she would sit on a good clutch of eggs. If only we could guarantee females!
She is our biggest girl. She is very docile though and there is no growling or raising her tail like some of the broody girls. She completely accepts me touching her or lifting her. I would never hatch chicks because we can’t guarantee females plus I like a very varied flock but she would certainly be able to sit on a good number of eggs.