Chicken Story pt 3 

We are down to between four to six days, give or take. When I gave the chickens their kitchen scraps Rio got off the nest to eat some. (That is normal for broody hens to leave every once in a while) I took that opportunity to see how many eggs she really has... 

Nine. But one was slightly crushed. As in the shell was bet in a little but the inner sac wasn't damaged and it wasn't oozy. I don't know how many will survive but at least we know the number to expect!

 I gave her an old chick waterer-the mason jars that screw to the lid thingies-at the beginning of her broodiness and give her new water and food every day. 

When she was off the nest she stood on the roost and I saw her picking feathers off her chest. They do this so more body heat can be directly transferred from hen to eggs. She is very protective of her space but she no longer tries to fend us off and cluck angrily at us when we give her food and water. I guess she realizes we are not predators and are here to help her. 

One of the down sides of having a broody chicken versus incubator is broody poop. Yep, you heard it here first, folks ;-) That's actually what it is called. 

No, broody poop is gross. It sounds gross, it looks gross, it feels gross, but most of all it smells gross. Like cover your nose and run out of the barn kind of gross. I'm not kidding. That's what I did. It smelled worse than any other barn animal excrement. 

You guys, I'm sorry. Blatantly talking about broody poop is unacceptable. I better stop now. Be ready for chick pics soon (if they survive)!