It's taken us a while to reason this out but the hen that has gone broody is actually Starboard, not Port. Port, sadly was the twin RIR lost to the fox this spring.
Starboard, for her part, seems to be a slightly anxious new mom. She's up and down off the nest a lot, which is not unexpected given the hot weather--I should think it's hard to keep the eggs from getting too warm--and appears to feel threatened by the proximity of the other chickens. She calmed down somewhat when I rearranged the tarp over the nursery cage to provide more privacy.
She's definitely broody, having figured out how to make herself look very big indeed, and flew at me furiously when I went to set up her food and water this morning. Most of the times I've checked on her today she's been on the nest, but she's antsy and very watchful. We've decide she may not be doing it exactly right, but we'll give her the 21 days or so she needs to get through her broodiness, and if no baby chicks come of it, well, at least she got some practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment