Happy Harvest Blog
White chicks
Inside the coop- mayhem. Older chicks and brown hen huddled in a corner, apparently completely weirded out. Three white chicks strewn around, one tumbled down the ramp to the bottom, one still on it, one dead. White hen impassively eating breakfast.
More chicks on the way!
Her teenage chicks from the first batch are extremely put out, now that she's setting.They are no longer allowed to crawl under her at night. She does her head-down growling thing and slams her wings shut, pressing them to the straw. No admittance.
I finally cracked the case
I finally cracked the seven eggs that did not hatch under the white hen when she was sitting on so many.I think I was afraid of them.Every single one had a partially developed chick in it. Some more developed than others.
Box upgrade for the Brown Brood
It amazes me that they are so tiny, a third or less the size of a "normal" chick, and yet, there are any number of songbirds that are no larger as adults. A hummingbird egg must be the size of my pinkie fingernail.
Chicken Mom / The In’s and Out’s.
I crawl in and start grabbing the chicks. Uhoh! At the sounds of distress, mom comes rocketing down the ramp, on a rampage! Flying attack beak! She’s battling me so fiercely, I have to protect the chicks I’m trying to grab with one hand from stabbing beak with the other hand. I should mention that being attacked by a two-pound hen, even giving all she’s got, is not all that threatening.
First day out for the chicks!
I split the box open so that the hen could lead the way out, and make her way down the ramp on her own time. She completely ignored the opening, although the chicks were interested, and quickly began scampering around the rest of the coop. They move like water bugs.
Two more chicks!
Yay! Three chicks from the white hen (although two are from stolen eggs)- far better than I expected, and equal to her productivity last year. I'm pretty sure that will be it for chicks from her, although I'll leave her her eggs a few more days. I'm pretty sure that will be it for chicks from her, although I'll leave her her eggs a few more days.
Second broody hen
Ah, yes, the little brown hen is now officially broody. She has five or six under her, a nice reasonable number, unlike someone else we know. What's been very amusing is that she's been shuffling her eggs from place to place every day.
One chick!
I knew it immediately when I looked at her: Head up! There's something alive under her:)Phew. One is way better than none. Perhaps, maybe, there could be another too.
Due date dubious
A few days ago the white broody got really deep into it, no longer leaving the coop in the morning, and assuming a very deep meditative state. Her due date has come and gone, and I expect the worst, that she's lost them all for being too ambitious. Yet, I hope for some hatching.
Thievery in the hen house
I responded to an altercation at the henhouse. The red hen was complaining vociferously, and this is what I found: TEN eggs! So much for leaving her a comfortable number that she can cover completely (four). She's been taking the eggs as the brown hen lays them.
First broody hen
The white Silkie hen went broody today. She was way too ambitious, though, sitting on a pile of eggs she couldn't even cover, like nine of them. They were spilling out all over
Chick Days
Another chick! A little spotted one, with markings on its back like a spider! Yesterday’s chick is white, now that it’s dried out and fluffy. They are so, unbelievably cute, and tiny! One little chick is weightless in my hand.
Nearly hatch time (?)
It’s getting exciting! The red hen is almost due. In the interests of continuing to let the white hen do her own thing without interference, we did not look at her eggs.
Broody hen embroilments
In the night I set her onto her clutch. Exciting! When I lifted her up I felt another egg under my fingertips in her belly feathers; I moved it with her. She’s deep in broody chicken trance, motionless and flattened out wide over her eggs.
Tragedy/Hope
Same day, the red hen went broody, and I broke her up by accident! I thought she might be hurt, crouched unusually on the floor of the coop, and I stroked her. She jumped up with a peep revealing three hot eggs she’d been on, and when I checked later she was on the roost, not on her eggs.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
