Hide and Seek

My husband normally opens up my Serama House early each morning.  He also opens the coops and let's the others go.  Several mornings he has commented about finding a little hen (Serama) in the Serama house when he went to open everything up.  He figured she just got left in there from the evening before when we closed it up for the night.  We generally leave the back door that leads into the pens open during the day so that there is some air circulating in this hot humid weather and turn a fan on the inside chickens.  Some of the Seramas from outside have learned that they can visit inside.  They do this from time to time. We just thought she was one of the "visitors" who occasionally got locked in at night.

Today my son, Tristan, went in to feed and water and noticed her still in there.  He tried to "shoo" her out, but she just hung around.  He noticed out of the corner of his eye, that she jumped on a bucket we have in there to use when changing out water.  He then saw her jump into an open bucket behind it.  For some reason, this little bucket had some pine chips in it and there she was.  She had been sitting on 7 eggs.  Three of these eggs had hatched, and three tiny little chicks were in the bucket with her and the other eggs.  She had to sit on those eggs, unbeknownst to us, for 21 days. She would be out of the bucket waiting on us occasionally.  When we opened the doors, she went out and got a bite to eat and got a drink.  She had access all day to come and go at will.  We would close the doors at night and she would be there in her bucket brooding.  We just thought she kept getting caught inside when we closed up for the evening.  We had one little rooster that made a practice of sleeping inside (loose) at night.  This just goes to show that where there is a will, there is a way.  She and the chicks are now resting comfortably in a nice place.  We placed the remaining eggs in the incubator to finish hatching.  

My little Serama hens have got to be some of the broodiest chickens in the world.  We have nest boxes all over the pen outside, yet she chose a hidden bucket inside the chicken house to lay and brood.  Once they decide on something, you are not changing their mind! One time we had a little hen that laid an egg behind the sink and decided to brood there.  She finally gave up on that idea because the sink is a very busy place in the mornings when we water and feed.  These adorable little chickens never cease to amaze me.