Chooks – Bad Tempered and Broody!

So, Louise (Lulu) has decided to become a mother. I just hope her mood improves once the eggs crack open! Naturally she has chosen the favourite nest to sit on and Eddie and Thelma will NOT use the other nest thank you very much! So from time to time I go up and see if I can get to the daily eggs before Louise. Nuh. She must have close to ten under her now, if not more. I haven’t been able to collect any eggs since last Thursday 11th November.

Thelma is pretending to be broody and goes and sits with Louise – for hours. But when I turn up with little goodies for them she soon jumps down. I don’t think that Louise actually wants her up there but as it’s rather a confined space, can’t do much about it!

But I have a plan. I’m waiting for a small hutch to arrive. It has two separate compartments which can be made into one, a top that comes off and a side door that opens. So once it’s here and I’ve put it together with the help of my trusty screwdriver, M will be called into action. I will put the hutch into the chook shed, fill the bottom with straw and then let the others out of the chook shed so that there’s just Louise and us pesky humans. This is part of the safety plan as I don’t know how Ron the rooster will react when he hears Louise going crazy and they can do nasty things with their spurs.

Then, using a towel to keep her wings from flapping about and getting her really upset, I will pick her up and M will transfer the eggs to the nest prepared in the hutch. I will then put her back onto the eggs (after counting them) and in the other compartment put some food and water and then open the door so that she can get to them.

Now, that’s the plan. Will it work? I’ll let you know, but I’m sure that everyone in the neighbourhood will know what’s happening. Louise is really, really grumpy. She even pecked me when I was holding some wheat out to her! So there’s bound to be quite a racket.

Once the eggs have hatched, Louise and her babies can stay in the hutch in the chook shed and have quality time without the others being able to bully them.

The tricky part will be sexing them as I certainly don’t want any more roosters! I was going to Google the subject but became worried about what might turn up if I typed in chicken sexing! My friend suggested using the word gender instead but then I worried that I might get some very unusual trannie web sites! I think, this time, I’ll go back to the written word.

So in 21 days (less now) I could become a grandmother – again.

Jan