Well, as of this morning, there are three babies hiding under Claire’s considerable red fluff.
The last couple of days, Claire has been a real sweetheart compared to how she normally is. A part of the ‘broody trance’ stage, she let me pet her, feed her by hand, and lift her up to look at the eggs/babies. Now that more of them have hatched, the broody trance is giving way to ‘Mama Mode’ and Claire’s true personality is asserting itself.
That is to say, I got bit 5 times trying to get these pictures and video.
Ouch!
There is one last egg, the paler one I mentioned was cracked already. It’ still cracked, but the crack is bigger.
Claire shows no signed of giving up on it yet, and keeps tucking it underneath her like she’s expecting something.
As tomorrow is Day 21 for that egg and one of the other (already hatched) chicks, I’ll wait and see what she does next. They have that saying about it – Mama Knows – so if Claire is still waiting for a chick, maybe I should, too?
Then again, it’ been cracked since Monday and no signs of anything coming out, movement, or cheeping.
But I’ll let Claire make that call. If she abandons the egg in favor of caring for the Wee Ones, I’ll know.
There a Chick 
So cute! 🙂 I wish mine would go broody soon. The only times I’ve gotten broody hens was either in the middle of winter, or when we hadn’t had a rooster in a few weeks (so none of those eggs were fertile).
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The timing kind of sucks. I was honestly hoping Abby would go broody again because I knew what to expect from her as a momma. No such luck. Instead, it’s one of my least friendly RiRs, my original ‘dragon lady’ and she does it during the time in which I’m prepping to integrate the Littles we bought back in March! I suppose I could have put her in a broody breaker, but I didn’t want her to waste a couple weeks not laying without something to show for it. This way, I at least get chicks.
Abby hatched Pip at the beginning of last winter and that didn’t turn out too bad. It was a mild winter, and our coop is warm enough. He did fine and even spent time outdoors. Even in snow. I wouldn’t want to do it that way again, though, if it was colder or later in the season. Too many variables.
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Aw, very cute! I love watching your story unfold. I was wondering how you managed to look at Claire’s chicks so safely yesterday! 😉
-Twiglet
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Yesterday, she was so tranced out I could have put her in a tutu and danced around the coop with her. Today – entirely different story! She didn’t draw blood, but the last time I checked her, I wore gloves!
How is Frodo doing?
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