Hard to believe it’s been a whole year since setting up a brooder box in my living room and entering my chicken momma era. Those tiny, adorable fluffballs have grown and changed so much, and they’ve got personalities as distinct as their feathers. I’ve made periodic updates, and the timing feels right for another, since everyone is now officially “grown” after their first birthday.

One of the hard parts about having chickens {or any livestock} is flock/herd management. In my case, I’ve got 2 roosters and 3 hens, which is not the ideal ratio, but their sizes are so different there have not been as many rooster versus rooster issues as you might think. What has been an issue is how big Popcorn has grown. He is massive. Huge. Enormous. He is ultimately too big for my girls {Pippin is the best size-match for him, and her feathers are starting to show the damage}, and I have come to the very difficult decision to try rehoming him. He needs a bigger flock – literally: larger hens, and more of them, but mostly larger hens.

Meanwhile, Pecan is the best little rooster that ever was. He is so attentive and sweet, checking on the girls when they’re in the nesting box. He even made a nest in the strawbales and tried to convince Pepper and Pippin to use it. {I joked on YT that he was going broody}. Pepper did actually leave me several eggs there, and Pippin has just started using it as well – but I think that is because Pepper refused to leave the box.

Pepper, you see, has gone broody. One day around lunch, she disappeared into the nesting box and I didn’t see her again all afternoon. When I opened the box to check for eggs, I was met by the fiercest little dinosaur scream. And I said to myself, and the chickens in general, “oh boy.” Of course, Pecan was super proud, and made sure I knew by crowing in my face.

We gave her a few days to prove she was committed to the nest, and then I got eggs from the neighbor-cousin {who hatched Pepper, Pecan and Penguin}. With the hawk issues, we opted for full-size chickens over more Bantams {although I do want more of the tiny ones!}, and my request was “pretty eggs: I’m chasing the rainbow.” I think they delivered! Fingers crossed these are all hens. I posted a YT short of me giving her the eggs if you would like a laugh.

We are now about halfway into the incubation period, and Pepper is being such a good little momma. Thankfully Pippin has started using the strawbale nest, so that removed a lot of disturbances. I love when I’m able to catch Pepper’s “nest break” – broody hens leave the nest only once, sometimes twice, a day for a quick food/water/poop/dust bath break. You can just tell there’s a timer going in Pepper’s head, as she scurries from spot to spot checking off her necessities. When time’s up, she races back up the ramp and into the nesting box.

Penguin meanwhile is not remotely interested in laying another egg. She is all about making friends and eating snacks. And sometimes cuddles – she likes me to hold her and rub her tummy.

It’s been an interesting and entertaining year, and with baby chick potential on the horizon, the next year looks to be more of the same!

Have you ever let a broody hen hatch chicks?
Any tips for rehoming a ginormous rooster?