Well, it’s that time of year! Love is in the air, the skies are blue, the temperatures are soaring and mother nature has gotten the better of another hen. Bellatrix, queen of the roost, has gone broody. This means she has stopped laying and started trying to incubate her eggs.

How do you know when a hen is broody? Well, there are two mains signs:

1.) She cannot be coaxed out of the nesting box for ANY reason.

2.) She plucks her belly feathers.

There are other signs as well; she will stop laying, her temperature will rise and she will only get up once a day to eat and drink.

So, naturally, the next question is: What do I do about my broody hen? You CANNOT let her stay broody, it will not ‘go away’ and she will starve/dehydrate herself if it goes on too long. Here are the other options:

1.) “Break” her. There are many methods of this and most not very nice. I don’t have the heart for it myself (I mean she really just wants to be a mommy and doesn’t she have the right?), but here’s a link to more info on how to “break” a broody hen. I chose this link because it has some very humane approaches.

2.) Get her some fertilized eggs and kick your heels back for 21 days while they incubate. I have done this once, and it was very exciting! Unfortunately, my hen hatched a rooster and one baby with such a horrible beak deformity we had to have it put down. Not the ideal outcome.

3.) Trick her. This is the way my husband and I have decided to go this time. It’s pretty simple and saves you (and your hen) lots of time. First, seclude her from the group, preferably in a nice, dark nesting box. Second, put some eggs (or even golf balls) under her. Lastly, after a few days, pick up some sex link chicks of your choice at your local feed barn and, under the cover of darkness, swap the eggs for the chicks. She’ll never know!

Stay tuned and over the next few weeks, I will keep you up-to-date on Bellatrix and her new brood!

The biggest of our Black Maran’s came to us, along with sister (meet Luna next week) from Craigslist (more about buying poultry off the Craigslist next week also).

It all started with my desire for more diversity of egg color. I already had one white egg-layer, one tan egg-layer and two green egg-layers and I was pining after a chocolate brown egg. There are several breeds that lay chocolate brown eggs and I like to do a lot research before I choose a breed. One great help I have found is the Mother Earth News Chickin’ Pickin’ app for the iphone (I use it on my ipad).

It’s always a good idea to choose a chicken that suites your poultry set up. I have a HUGE backyard and my girls have the run of it all day, so I look for a breed that does well with open range. I also look for a breed that does well in heat (it gets to 115 regularly here in the summer months) and it’s broody.

I settled on the Maran’s and decided that I wanted pullets instead of chicks for ease. The best place to find a pullet or hen around here is Craigslist. Both Bellatirx and Luna were listed by a local woman who shows chickens. Black Laced Maran’s are a very popular show chickens, but if their adult plumage comes in and they don’t have any lacing, they can’t be shown. They are still, however, great pets and make wonderful (chocolate-brown) eggs!

Bellarix is a great hen, but don’t tell her that- she’d far rather be a rooster. Every morning she gets up on top of the Eglu, makes a lots of noise and lets me know it’s time for everyone to get on with their day!