broken

We broke the broody. Yay! We were actually beginning to wonder if some of the eggs were fertile since Mojo McConaughey was jumping on the girls backs, and we were thisclose to putting some under Plumpy, until common sense won out and I remembered that I don't want to deal with baby chicks again. So we said goodbye to Mojo on Sunday morning. That cute little weirdo will be missed, but his shrill, girl-scream crow will NOT be missed. Now the two little chicks that are left (the last remaining two of the ones we hatched under Plumpy in June) are in the big coop with the others. No more free-range chooks in the backyard means no more mountains of chicken poop to step over! Woo-hoo! The little ones are adjusting to life in the big coop, but there's no sleeping quarters for them yet so it's back into the garage at night.

STILL broody

I'm not sure what to do next. We've been kicking her out of the nest boxes, keeping her out of the dog crate in the garage and even dunking her in water to bring down her body temperature. Nothing is really working. She's back to sleeping in the coop with the Big Chickens at night but heads right to the nest boxes. I may try letting her sit on frozen eggs next. If that doesn't work, I don't know what we'll do! I am NOT ready for new baby chicks at this time of year and I think the landlords (my parents) would spontaneously combust if they saw baby chicks in our yard.

broody

Welcome to The Plumpy Chronicles! Over the past year, Plumpy (aka, Punky or Plunky) has developed quite a following. From losing her chicken sister to hatching her own chicks, Plumpy has had quite a time of things. She's also developed her own following, with people everywhere wondering how she has weathered her latest drama. Now readers worldwide can enjoy Plumpy updates right here ;)

Currently, Plumpy is broody. This means she wants to hatch some babies. However, we don't have any fertile eggs (that I know of, although we do have a rooster) and I'm not gonna get her any so she's out of luck until spring. Now I have to break her of her broodiness by lowering her body temperature with cool water and keeping her away from the nest boxes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We'll have to wait and see. Today is day 2 of trying to break her and she seems a little more like her regular self.