Broody Hen is Sitting on Eggs Again

One of my Wyandotte hens has gone broody AGAIN!

None of the other hens are laying right now...

But she has at least a dozen eggs underneath her.

I'm buying eggs from the store while I allow her to honor her maternal instincts. I think she has been on them for at least three weeks steady so if I don't start hearing peeps pretty soon, I expect they're all infertile...

We have a couple of chickens who might be young roosters, based on the look and size of their combs and wattles. I don't see large spurs on their legs, though.  One of them tried (for a while) to crow but gave it up apparently. I haven't heard him/her try again recently. (Interesting fact: in lieu of a rooster, some hens--usually the dominant one in a group--will take on the role.)

I feel sorry for Broody (her newly assigned name). She's the one who goes broody a couple times a year. I bought chicks and put them under her last time, but my sister Jackie says "No more chicks!"

Well, we might have some more chicks one of these days..naturally...instead of farm store-bought.

I kinda hope we do. I love baby critters. (I love almost ALL critters, let's face it!)

If they don't hatch (if they're infertile), I can float them in water and see if any of them are still good to eat. It isn't necessary to refrigerate eggs, but after incubating them for three weeks, they might be bad (if the innards aren't being consumed by growing embryos/unhatched chicks).

We're gonna find out one way or the other very, very soon. I'll keep you posted...

In Other News:

I'm spending a lot of time answering questions on Quora. You can subscribe to my answers there.

I'm also writing a two-minute animated video script for a long-time client. Lots of fun!