Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Hot and Broody

We experienced a bit of a heat wave here today with temps up in the 90's when just yesterday and the day before our temps stayed in the comfy 70's.
Starting tomorrow, though, it will start getting cooler up here in the mountains again. And we are expecting temps in the low to mid 60's.
But today was HOT! So I opened up all the hen house doors and left them ajar all day. I turned on the apple tree bubbler and the girls had great wet fun with that for a long while. And after watering the grass, I tore huge clumps of wet grass for them and they were very happy to munch those cool wet leaves. I hung out for an hour or two taking some pics and getting my chicken fix.
It sure was hot, though!
I was surprised to see a different hen in the nest box with the fertile eggs. This is my sweet Ameracauna girl. I'm not sure she was feeling broody or just preparing to lay her egg. But she was panting to stay cool while inside the nest box.
Then I discovered my broody hen, Kipper, one of our Speckled Sussex. She's been broody for about 2 weeks and laying on these fertile eggs for 5 days now. Doesn't my girl look tired? And she still has a couple more weeks left to lay. From my predictions we should see some hatching of chicks on or around June 6th!
Even with the heat, it was such a gorgeous day. A great day to hang out with chickens.
Kipper, having grabbed a snack and some water, and stretched her legs, crawled back in to claim her nest box and eggs. Finally, the Ameracauna girl got the message and gave back the nest box. You don't want to mess with a broody hen. hehe

5 comments :

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful way to spend a day! I think the nest box is definately only big enough for one on the last pic:) Glad to hear you are doing good there.

Pony Girl said...

Chickens and motorcylces....what a cool blog! You always have something interesting to share. I love those motorcycle trains...I use to watch the Harleys roll in for a weekend rally and it's kind of an adrenaline rush...and those hogs are loud!

Anonymous said...

I love the chicken pic in your header! Really great. Glad your scary dog episode ended ok with no injuries. That is one good thing about living in town as I do. Of course the drawback is no goats, ponies or pigs :-(

Thanks for the nice compliments about Henbogle house! As we have worked like dogs to make it look like a 'cover story' I appreciate it when people notice!
Ali

Carla said...

My broody girl always manages to survive despite the heat here in Texas. She also usually picks July to go broody. I just have to make sure she gets off the nest to eat and drink---she's not very good about that.

Gudl said...

Your hen house and surroundings look great! I am sure your 'girls' love it there!