Broody Hen

Ok now I know what you meant when you said you felt mean taking Abby's eggs when she was broody!  This morning she built a gorgeous deep nest in the area below the nesting box - ground floor and laid an egg in it.  When we went near the nest she got very stressed so we left her alone. 

As it is very detrimental to her health to sit on eggs that are not going to hatch we thought we better do something quickly so I Googled the subject and got Greg (well why should I be the bad guy) to take the egg, "mess up" her nest and close the door.  I then played some water games with her under a mandarin tree - she likes that on a hot day and the big goanna showed up and helped out with the distractions!

Her timing is very bad as in two days we are going to bring home two Australorp pullets and we have been told to put them in with Ruby (downstairs where she sleeps) after dark so in the morning when they all wake up these two new hens appear and there is less fuss????   : )))))  If Abbey was sitting on eggs in this area and presumably kicked out Ruby, where would we put the new arrivals?   Oh the goings on in a chicken coop!

It looks like we will have to be mean for a few more days and then hopefully she will forget about it especially as she will be wanting to reassert her dominance over the two new arrivals in a few days time.

Enjoy the powder guys!