Broodiness...

...what a total joy this is!


Brick has been in lay for just over 4 months.  Half of that time she has been broody, and she is a VERY determined broody.  We're talking Mother of the Year award level broodiness here.  


Sadly for her, I cannot offer her the opportunity to have chicks.  I no longer have a cockerel and I'm certainly not prepared to run the gauntlet of purchasing fertile eggs for her to sit on.  I would undoubtedly end up with six cockerels!  


So I have one very broody and increasingly sad looking hen, doing her utmost to hatch out the little plastic egg I have given her. The daily battle of her acquiring everyone else's eggs and then me reacquiring them off her, was not a suitable arrangement for either of us.  So plastic broody eggs were promptly purchased.

Brick being 'Mother of the Year' while Mabel faffs about in the other nest box.

And then there's Mabel...




If there was social services for chickens, she'd be top of their hit list.


Mabel's outlook on broodiness differs somewhat to that of Brick's.  It mainly involves stomping around the garden for most of the day whilst having a jolly good moan.  Then, two hours before roost time, she retires to a nest box, fluffs herself out and announces to all that she is actually broody, in case you had been fortunate enough to miss the day's ooooooo-ing and aaaaaa-hing all over the garden.




Suffering her friends broodiness with dignity and grace as always, is Betty.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Bet has decided to take full advantage of the current situation.






See if you can spot the recurring feature in these photos...

A shot of the conservatory.

My husband in the living room.

My daughter watching television.

My stepson texting on the sofa.

Me using my laptop.

Yes, I do believe full advantage of the situation is being well & truly taken!

.....