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Broody Hen

April 3rd, 2014

I finally have a broody hen, which is funny. Most people try to figure out ways to break their hens of their broodiness, I’ve been wanting one of mine to go broody. This little lady started to feel broody a week or so ago, she spends more and more time in the nesting box each day.
broody hen
Now that she’s sitting all day I’m going to move her to a small dog kennel with a nest and a few eggs I’ve been saving from my Wayndotte hens. Hopefully she’ll hatch out a few chicks. ‘Tis the season, it seems all the wildlife around here is started to get ready for the upcoming warm weather. I’ve seen lots of activity with the local ravens and hawks, they seem to be getting ready to make nests and raise new clutches of little ones.

Have you noticed any animals starting to get ready for the season of babies?

7 Comments to “Broody Hen”
  1. daisy on April 3, 2014 at 5:59 am

    We have a pair of cardinals visiting our feeder daily and I haven’t seen the female in a few days, so I’m thinking she may be sitting on a nest. It’s so fun to see the birds come and take things from the yard and know that they are making a cozy nest to enjoy. Looking forward to seeing what happens with your hen!

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  2. Joan on April 3, 2014 at 7:12 am

    My little bantam who usually goes broody didn’t last year. I was really hoping she would because I love hatching out chicks! This year she is sticking closer to the coop when the other hens roam and I’m hoping that means she’s thinking of going broody, but I’m worried that it just means she is getting old and is not able to wander as much. She’s kind of a special little hen and I don’t want to lose her.

    Time to start shedding out the dogs and horses, and tossing their hair in the yard for the birds to make nests with. Soon I’m sure we’ll see a flycatcher nesting over our front door, and have to start using the back door for everything!

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  3. Henry on April 3, 2014 at 8:05 am

    We are waiting hopefully for one of our hens to turn broody so that we can hatch out some of our copper maran eggs.
    We are also hoping that we will be able to hatch out some duck eggs as well.

    Reply to Henry's comment

  4. Misti on April 3, 2014 at 8:12 am

    We’ve been hoping one of our owl boxes or bird houses/gourds would be used, but not yet! we had a wood duck in one of of the wood duck boxes a week or so ago but haven’t really seem them return. Last year they hatched out some cute little babies in a different box on the pond.

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  5. Nebraska Dave on April 3, 2014 at 9:24 am

    Susy, the wild life is definitely getting ready for Spring. The Robins are plucking fat juicy worms out of the ground; the male Woodpeckers are making their pecking noise to attract a mate; and the squirrels are chasing each other round and round the tree trunks. I’m not sure how long a bird lives but for the last several years in the early morning, I’ve had a bird in the tree right outside my bedroom window wake me up by singing to me. This year that hasn’t happened. It will be sad if that doesn’t happen this year.

    Good luck with the broody hen. Have a great chicken hatching day.

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  6. Myra on April 3, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    We have a crazy phoebe who has 3 nests between different rafters of our porch. She leaves them in various stages of completion, then lays eggs in 2 of them, forgets they’re in one and only hatches out the other leaving the other nests abandoned. So far, the egg count is one egg each in two nests. Makes me wonder if the male phoebe thinks his mate is nuts, or just goes along with her. She does this every year, whether we tear out the nests in the fall or not. She either remodels or rebuilds. Great fun to watch.

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  7. Donna A. on April 3, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    So exciting!
    Hopefully she’ll be a great mom like the mama duck was!

    Reply to Donna A.'s comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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