2 Broodies and a Last-Minute Fix

Remember Wanda? She hatched a chick in March after a long period of not-so-successful brooding attempts. Well, I found her secret nest a couple weeks ago (it looked like a community nest), and let her sit on them. I figured it's easier to let her hatch eggs than it is to fight her broodiness. This is her calling. Who am I to crush her dreams of motherhood?

I noticed Friday night that her eggs were starting to hatch. I took 2 of her eggs that had pipped and gave them to a Barred Rock hen that recently went broody.


As of Sunday, 4 of Wanda's eggs had hatched. See the little black one on the left with the yellow spot on its head?

This Barred Rock hen has been broody for a few weeks now. She's pretty vicious. She pecks my hand when I reach under her, and if I even peek through the coop window at the nesting boxes she'd let out a big growl (beak open wide) and puff up. Hateful thing! I gave her 2 of Wanda's eggs and they both hatched out. Hopefully she'll enjoy being a mom and won't go broody again for a while.

So Sunday morning I decided to put the ram and Theo in the bachelor pen since it was finished. I realized that there was no shade in the early morning hours because the sun was so low in the sky, so I needed a quick fix! I found 2 scrap pieces of lumber to screw to the front of the shelter. It doesn't look pretty, but it solved the shade problem.

I went out a couple hours later and saw the ram lamb had squeezed his body into the one little patch of shade from the trees. Luckily the pen has a ton of shade from mid morning to evening.

Theo took advantage of the shelter almost immediately. Well, after he'd scratched himself.