Been a busy weekend around here with company the past two days. Wanted to tell you the incredible thing that happened this morning however. I had come into the house from milking and the girls were finishing feeding. When they went in to get the hay they heard peeps. I went back out with the flashlight and sure enough there is a little chick!
Let me back it up a bit. We have a few hens who have gone "broody" this year. It's a rather rare thing for most of the commercial layer breeds since they have had the instinct bred out of them. We had a broody hen last winter but after sitting for two weeks she got up and walked away from her rather large clutch. So when these hens started we weren't real hopeful anything would come of it. In fact we have been discouraging them because although they have enough instinct to start, they don't seem to follow through. We end up with lots of lost eggs.
This one wasn't to be discouraged however. We were just saying this morning that it had to be close to the 3 wks it takes to hatch out the eggs. We were discussing how long to leave her there and when to get the eggs out - assuming they were dead. And then........PEEP! A little black chick crept out from under her and was squawking in the hay. He/she ran around her a while then crawled back under. We are waiting to see how many if any more eggs hatch. It can take 24 hrs for them to "pip" and then "peep". (Pipping being the first little knock against the shell wall) I tried to catch the chick but missed so all I have to share right now is the broody hen, hunkered down on those eggs. Gives new meaning to the term "nesting"!
I did get new pics of the kittens since they are all sharing the maternity ward together. Really hoping mama cat doesnt decide to serve chicken dinner...... Stay tuned! Will hope to have more pics tomorrow.
How exciting! All these new and upcoming births at Starry Sky Ranch make me long to have a farm of my own. Please post photos of the chicks when you can for the kids (and I :) ) to see. Does the hen have a name?
Posted by: Rebecca | May 30, 2006 at 03:46 PM