Thursday 18 February 2010

Knowing your hens


For those who don't keep chickens this post is going to make me sound a little crazy.


Today could possibly be the day any fertile eggs, from my newly acquired broody, hatch. I don't feel as if though I know her. Over time the different personalities of the birds become apparent. All have different characters, some feisty, some aloof, others friendly and some ready to pick a fight with anything that moves. Others are laid back and will cope with anything, whilst some get upset with the slightest change in routine.

I have no idea in which category this broody falls. She certainly seems to have taken the move and change of ownership in her stride. She is still sitting tight, only getting off the nest once a day for food etc. When I enter the shed to get the food for the other hens she remains on her nest, quietly watching my every move. Today when I entered she softly growled at me, does this mean her eggs are about to or have hatched or am I just wishing ?
She doesn't yet seem to be sitting higher on the nest. When a hen is brooding she sits quite flat, once the eggs have hatched she sits more upright with her wings not so flat to her body.
Later I will quietly check again but for now I will leave her in peace.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my experience, the growl can generally be translated as "get the hell away from me and my eggs"... lol!

Sandra said...

lol totally agree but as I haven't been growled at before I was hoping it meant 'get the hell away from my HATCHING eggs :)