broody hen: noun, a hen which persists in sitting on its eggs to hatch them
Right now we have five such broody creatures at the Buck ‘N Run Ranch.
To the left and below is Lukka, the mother of all broody hens. She is pictured with her five babies which hatched a little over a month ago. When they hatched, all the babies were pure blond but over the weeks they have feathered in multi-colored. The little brown one in the back hatched in the incubator. I was keeping it for myself (broody) but one of Lukka’s babies disappeared, so I gave it to her (non-broody).
This is an Icelandic pullet, a first time broody. She has been broody for about five weeks. She kept getting kicked off her nest and losing her clutch of eggs. I gave her two eggs that were due to hatch yesterday and she successfully hatched out one. The other was not able to hatch on it’s own.
This is another Icelandic broody we call Miss Polaris due to her fascination with our farm ATV. She is sitting on five eggs due to hatch on Friday. Miss Polaris is a first-time broody too.
The last of the Icelandic broodies is this girl who is sitting on another five eggs due to hatch on Friday as well.
The final broody is Skye, a wheaten Ameraucana who has raised several clutches of babies for us. She is sitting on six eggs due to hatch on Friday.
Each girl is confined to a private area at the moment but as the babies grow they will need to get out and about and learn from mama how to be a chicken. I just hope they can keep straight who’s baby is who’s and who’s mama is who’s. It could be MAYHEM!