Maturnity Coop

The kids and I went to visit our new friends down in Centrailia. These are the folks we got the cast iron tub from. They have an INCREDIBLE set up. I am so impressed with all they have done in such a short period of time. They are much like us in that they do not have a back ground in farming, do not know what they are doing, but are just jumping in with both feet. And are quite the success (far surpassing us for sure!) if I do say so myself.

This is the "maturnity coop" =) They had a hen go 'broody' (where she just sits in the nesting box and stays on the eggs) so they stuck some eggs under her- theirs and some neighbors. And all but 2 hatched! So they put the mama and the babies in here to "grow big and strong" (elle's words.)

Here's the mama, running to hide her little ones!

Now I can't wait for "Broody Blackie" to go broody again! Now that we have our 'accidental rooster' we'll try and hatch some next time she goes broody (we call her that because she is the only hen that we have that is black and she goes broody A LOT). Now I just need to build a "maturnity coop" so we can be ready! =) Normally I am annoyed when she goes broody because she monapolizes a whole nesting box for herself and doesn't lay eggs at that time, but now I am looking forward to it. She'll be a good mama.