This is Ponytail, our broody hen. She has made a rather large clutch of what started with eleven, but now ten, eggs. She is diligent, faithful, and rather aggressive about her eggs. I got this picture here of her when we cleaned out the coop last weekend and she wouldn't (like a good mama) get off her eggs, so we just picked up the nesting box with her in it and set the entire thing down while we cleaned! She's been on her eggs for quite awhile; I made the mistake of not writing down when she laid her last egg to make her clutch, starting the 21 day incubation period. We've never let our "Ladies" go this far, so we are relatively naive about what is in store for Ponytail's, and her chicks, future. Honestly, we don't expect all to hatch, and we do expect a chick or two to die after hatching. We are expecting the worse, hoping for the best--a motto we've been adopting lately. I hope to see ALL ten chickies running around sometime next week!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Gone Broody.
This is Ponytail, our broody hen. She has made a rather large clutch of what started with eleven, but now ten, eggs. She is diligent, faithful, and rather aggressive about her eggs. I got this picture here of her when we cleaned out the coop last weekend and she wouldn't (like a good mama) get off her eggs, so we just picked up the nesting box with her in it and set the entire thing down while we cleaned! She's been on her eggs for quite awhile; I made the mistake of not writing down when she laid her last egg to make her clutch, starting the 21 day incubation period. We've never let our "Ladies" go this far, so we are relatively naive about what is in store for Ponytail's, and her chicks, future. Honestly, we don't expect all to hatch, and we do expect a chick or two to die after hatching. We are expecting the worse, hoping for the best--a motto we've been adopting lately. I hope to see ALL ten chickies running around sometime next week!
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