All the chickens are adjusting to the warm Mississippi Summer.  They look forward to their ice water and frozen watermelon at 1:30 each afternoon.  If I am late, they kick up a fuss and let everybody in the neighborhood know that I am late.  Spoiled chickens.

The hens have been laying well, too!  Out of 9 laying hens, I have been averaging 6-7 eggs each day.  That is a lot of eggs!

Maybe we need to review just who all the hens are:

I have two Rhode Island Reds.  Their names are Daryl.  I used to have three Rhode Island Reds.  Their names were Larry, Daryl and Daryl but Larry died last Fall so all I have left are the two Daryl’s.  These are the oldest hens I have.  I got them when they were about 3 months old.

I have one Barred Rock hen.  She is very pretty and very stuck up.  Her name is Greta.

I have three Black Australops.  They all go by Rover.  They know their names, too!  They are very sweet and docile hens.  Good layers, too!

Then, there are the three babies.  The Easter Eggers.  They are about 5 months old now.  They, too, are very good layers.  Two lay green shelled eggs and one lays blue shelled eggs.  They are sweet also and as dumb as a brick.  I really enjoy them!

Lastly is Peter.  Peter is my Rooster.  He is the man of the Coop.  He takes his responsibility seriously.  Peter is a young and very amorous lad.  He is often frustrated that the hens do not return his affections.  Poor Peter.

Anyway, one of the Rover’s has gone Broody.  That means she wants to sit on some eggs and hatch them.

On average, it takes 21 days of parking on the eggs for them to hatch.

When we had the cool weather roll through here last week, I wasn’t all the concerned about it but the weather is getting hot/humid again and I am worried about Rover.  She will NOT leave those eggs and the nesting boxes are hot!

The nesting boxes have ventilation and everything but pretty much the hens go in one (and they do have a favorite nesting box~the one that Rover decided to park herself in to hatch those eggs) lay that egg and get “the heck out of Dodge.”  It is HOT in there!!!

So, Rover, a black hen, is sitting in a dark nesting box, in 90+ heat/humidity, all day and all night trying to hatch about 6 eggs for the next three weeks.  I hope she doesn’t kill herself in the process.

Google (remember Google is your friend and is infallible) says that broody hens take in 80% less food and water when they are broody.  I am concerned.  What a time of year to decided to go off and hatch some eggs.

But, maybe in the next couple of weeks, I will have some cute little baby chicks!  That would be fun, now, wouldn’t it!?!