New Life in the Barn

Last month we told you about a broody hen that was sitting on some eggs in the barn.  Three eggs to be exact.  We marked them with a marker and removed any other eggs from the box.  Over the last three weeks the Black Star hen dutifully sat on three brown eggs only getting up to quickly go eat some rice and drink some water and then she was back on the nest.

Broody hen on her nest

A few days ago Tricia turned to me and said, "You hear that?"  I'm kind of deaf, so I answered, "No." She could hear the chirping of a little chick.  As we approached the momma hen began clucking loudly and fluffing up her feathers.  She didn't want us anywhere near her baby chick.  You can see the little black chick snuggled up next to the mom as momma hen looks down with pride at her newborn.

Freshly hatched chick

Here is the little chick once we moved the mom away from her.  We gave her a few more days to sit on the other two eggs, but no babies ever came out.  I would assume that these eggs weren't fertilized. Even though we have a 1:10 rooster to hen ratio, sometimes this happens.  I was disappointed as I expected at least two to hatch.  The chick is black, with some slight coloration on its wings.  I would guess that this is a Black Star, just like the momma hen sitting on the nest.  A Black Star is a cross between a Rhode Island Red Rooster and a Barred Rock hen.

33.33% hatch rate

Momma hen is very protective over her little one, leading it to safety and clucking loudly.  She will lead her baby to food and water, and we have been watching with interest as she teaches the chick to eat little pieces of food and drink little bits of spilled milk from when we milk the cow.

Follow me, little one.

The focus was off on the camera, so I was unable to get a good shot, but here is a blurry picture of the new baby in the barn.  Mother hen didn't like it one bit that I was holding her baby and let me know it by pacing around my feet.  When I put the chick back on the ground, the hen pecked me hard on the finger.  Serves me right.

A Handful

For the first 3 or 4 days, the hen kept her baby in the barn sequestered from the other chickens and animals.  Today, the hen and her chick ventured out of the barn and walked around the perimeter.  

A field trip

Of course we won't know if this is a pullet or a cockerel for quite some time.  We like to allow a broody hen to sit on a clutch of eggs once a year and we also like to put some eggs in our incubator and hatch out some chicks.  However, this year we decided to go ahead and make an order to have some Barred Rock day old chicks mailed to us so that we can replace some of the chickens that have died over the past year.  We'll show you those birds once they come in the mail.