Broody No More!

the birthday party when the hens turned ONE last week

After almost a straight month of broodiness, Fluff (my Buff Orphington) decided to stop her imaginary incubating today. She spent the whole day wandering the yard with the other chickens and was my happy little "puppy" once more. I'm glad. Now she needs to get back to laying eggs for me. They say there are random ways to stop a broody hen (one example is dunking her in a vat of water to snap her out of it), but I thought for my first time with one, I would wait it out. One month was longer than I thought it would last, but it wasn't horrible. I'm sure Bowtie will be next with the mama mood, since Australorps also tend to go broody (thanks to their Orphington roots).

I think my favorite part about having hens is that they come running to me when I pop outside and they will follow me around and come when I snap my fingers. It really is kind of like having puppies (and, according to my husband, they poo all over the yard like puppies, too).

It's been very hot here, and the girls' favorite pastime is lounging in dirty places and open-mouth breathing. They are also fans of trying to sneak raspberries from our bushes and raiding any picnics we might have on the lawn.