Since Shadow and Sugar started laying I have wondered if one of them would be a broody girl. Shadow started laying earlier than Sugar and once she hit her stride she proved to be a really good layer.
I thought this would probably mean that Shadow would be a broody girl because it tends to be the good egg layers that go broody.
However it turns out that it is Sugar who is the broody. Shadow has laid 24 eggs so far and Sugar has laid 14 eggs and then gone broody. This is a similar number to Smoke before going broody.
I first thought she was going broody when I would check the nest box and Sugar would growl and raise her tail. I thought this meant she was going to be one of those angry broodies. It turned out that she was just trying to get her last egg laid.
Once Sugar actually went broody she wasn’t angry at all. She will let me lift her from the nest box with no fuss. When I put her out in the run she sits for a minute then starts scratching away. She will have a scratch and some food and water before going back in and doesn’t rush back immediately. Maybe this is because it’s just her first time.
Ebony seemed to push her way into the nest box and Sugar just held her position. Flame prefers company in a nest box and will choose an occupied one if there is one so they seemed happier with sharing.
I later removed both Ebony’s egg and then Flame’s egg from underneath Sugar. Shadow chose to lay her egg in the nest box next to this one.
I am happy that when I lift Sugar she is docile and accepting. It’s much nicer than an angry girl. At bedtime I am lifting her from the nest box and perching her in the chicken shed and she perches happily without dropping down from the perch.
Sugar doesn’t shout when I remove her from the nest box unlike Smoke, sometimes, so that is a bonus too. Sugar is turning out to be a sweet broody girl so far.
It will be interesting to see how she long she will stay broody. The good thing is that we are getting plenty of eggs.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Sugar is so pretty, she looks so tiny against the other girls.
She is a pretty girl. She does look small against the two bigger girls but she is one of the bigger seramas. Sugar is bigger than Shadow.
Broody already! It’s amazing how quickly hens mature! xx
I know. She has only been laying for a month. I was surprised it’s so soon. She has been broody for three days now. xx
And so another cycle begins! Delighted that Sugar is a gentle broody; Lena is just turning broody and was very aggressive when I lifted her yesterday, running at me after I’d put her into the run, breaking an egg in the process. Oh, joy – pleased I have my non-broody leghorns!
I am so glad she is gentle. When she growled and raised her tail when she was laying her last egg I thought she may be an angry broody but she has turned out to be very gentle. She doesn’t react at all to being lifted or to the other girls around her once I’ve put her in the run and they don’t react to her in return. I am amazed that she is broody after only a month of laying though.