Our little one year old Pekin bantam Cookie has gone broody. As part of my master plan for self-sufficiency in chickens, raising our own chicks is priority, with the expertise of a broody hen.
None of our other hens, in our 6 or so years of chicken keeping, has considered broodiness, so this is as new to us as it is to Cookie; she was raised by us in a box in our dining room, after being hatched at the breeder's house. We're taking a chance on her by buying some fertilized eggs (we've got six Orpington eggs); hopefully she's committed and will sit on them the full three weeks--and then go on to raise them, as there's not much point in brooding them only to abandon them as hatchlings. Though we could step in at that point and bring them back to the dining room...
But that's not ideal. We're hoping Cookie can raise us some healthy, independent chicks, with little to no intervention from us. And if she's successful, the next step would be to keep a breeding rooster of our own (as Tiny rooster, our English game cock, is too small to successfully mate with any of our hens, even Cookie). So come on, Cookie: you can do it!
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