Hibiscus House: Predators Hit The Hen House But A Chick Was Born!

These chickens were sadly killed by predators

Recently these two Black Minorcas, pictured front left in the picture above became broody. That was rare so I was excited knowing that we needed new chicks to lay our future eggs. These older girls had quit laying eggs, so the broodiness was a strange surprise. Oh, how I miss these sweet chickens.

The rooster on the right is Hey Boy from the Sparky Barred Rock line. Such a sweet young rooster. The hen in the back molting was the sister to the Black Minorcas in front.

I placed a few eggs in the nest and watched as the broody hens politely took turns setting on the eggs. It was very entertaining to watch. I waited impatiently for the eggs to hatch. Then it happened! One of the eggs hatched!

Only one but what a Godsend! They doted on the little one taking turns. I loved those sweet docile but flighty hens.

Here is their baby a Barred Rock shown above at 8 weeks old

When this chick was around 4 weeks old it would fly up to a very high roost to sit with its 2 mother hens. So cute to see.

I had to move the one Black Minorca and Hey Boy the rooster to another pen because they were giving the hens some trouble and I didn't want the chick to be harmed. Only the two mother hens and the baby chick remained in this particular pen.

One night around that time a predator got into that pen and I still can't figure out what or how it did, but it got one of the mothers carried it off. So one mother hen left with the chick. Within a week a predator got in again and this time took the other mother hen off. No signs of anything left of them in the pen. The little chick survived, they must've put up quite a fight to protect it.

I then pinned the chick up in the small pen inside this pen for safety. It was so lost at first and I could tell lonely. I spent quite a lot of time going out and checking on the baby. It grew and thrived after a while.

Well, as bad luck would have it a predator went into that other pen and took off that black hen. Hey Boy, the pretty young rooster was suffering and dying with some injuries. Evidently, he put up such a heroic fight to save the hen. We had to put him down sadly and it broke my heart.

The little lone chick was growing and thriving anyway thankfully! One morning I heard a small crowing sound. Yes! By Golly, this little long-awaited chick was a rooster! I'm laughing and every morning he crowed at Chuck.

Right after it started crowing we decided to call a local feed & seed to check on some older chicks. Yay! He had some 8-week-old pullets! What another Godsend! Right on time and the same age as our little chick rooster! We decided to get 4. This new minimalist downsized her chick buying but was grateful for the 4 we got!

Two White Leghorns and one of the Black Sex Links

In front is our dear little crowing boy!

All together now the newest chicks

Sparky the grandfather rooster is outside the pen checking the newest additions

We've worked really hard putting additional wiring to protect these and so far so good! No further attacks and hope it stays that way.

Good news so far the only chick in the pen crowing is the one hatched here. The other four must indeed be pullets. I'm still holding my breath just in case one does happen to crow. Looks like they'll be laying eggs in the coming weeks!