Aug 7, 2022

SUNDAY CHICKEN DAY: THE NEW CHICK

I was so tickled to have a hen suddenly become broody.  It's so rare to have one that does that now.  The trait seems to have been bred out of most hens. 
When you have a hen that still wants to become a mother and you need to replenish with new chicks you take advantage of the situation. It's so convenient to have a hen that wants to sit on the eggs, hatch, and care for the chicks.  Much better than having to incubate the fertilized eggs yourself.

A good hen will only have two or three good years of egg laying and then it tends to slack up a lot before stopping altogether. So you have to plan and prepare for future egg layers.

Today I'm sharing a few pictures of the little one.

THE GRANDCHICK BABY PICTURES
Three Days Old

Ms. Not-So-Nice Surrogate Mother Hen and New Chick

I see the white dot on top of the baby's head and that could mean it is a he
  Oh, how I hope it doesn't crow.



Mama is devoted 









The baby appears very happy and seems to have grown by leaps and bounds 
In just three days!






We're so thankful for this chick
It's a miracle it survived!

Two quick videos showing the hen and chick








Notes of this birth: 
You're welcome to read them if you like


The Paternity Story:

I guess I should explain.  In the picture above you can see the father Sparky a Barred Rock Rooster and notice the two gray hens.  They are Sapphire Olive Eggers one of them is the mother. The baby chick hatched from one of their blue-green-colored eggs. 

I placed two blue and two brown eggs from that pen under the broody hen in another pen.

Unfortunately, there was an accident last week and every egg fell from the coop to the ground below.  A door came unlatched and all the eggs fell out. 

I quickly put the three surviving eggs back into the nest along with one little one from the remaining egg that cracked wide open. I so hoped that it would survive but it didn't. I massaged its chest and it breathed then curled up into a fetal position. So precious.


Back to the crowded pen:

There were three more hens in that pen trying to lay eggs. and this constantly agitated broody hen was preventing that.  She has proven to be a very mean hen, especially when setting on eggs. 

Now that the chick has hatched she has drawn blood from my arm twice!  

Needless to say, I now use a metal pickup stick to prevent her attacks and put food and water in the pen.  It's like going into a lion's den!

Oh, I've moved the queen mother from the main hen house to a smaller coop and she did not like it at all! 


Now in the main hen house:

We have eggs again! I laughed!  When I went to check two hens were sitting on top of each other laying eggs! It was so cute and   It wasn't long before there were two eggs in the nest! 

The broody hen must have scared the others to death.

Yay, eggs and happy hens again! That was a good move! 

Ahh, the peace that is in the pen now. Relief! 😊


We will watch and see if in a few months this new little one crows or not

Have A Great Sunday!




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