The Chicks are Growing Up!

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Matthew 23:37

A Chicken Combo

In THIS POST FROM EARLIER IN THE MONTH we talked about the excitement of some baby chicks - four to be exact, that a smart momma hen hatched out in the loft of our barn.  I figured that we'd give you a little update on them.  The hen actually hatched out four little chicks.  They all seem to be barred rock variety - the same breed as the mother.  Since we have roosters from various breeds and since hens will sit on other hens' eggs, we never know what variety we'll end up with.  

We moved them down from the hay loft and into the goat milking stall.  Although they are little fluff balls, a 10 foot drop down to the barnyard floor might not be good for them.  Momma hen pretty much stays in the center nesting box with a chick tucked under each wing.  When we come into the barn, the babies pop out from beneath the mother as you see in the photo above.  The mother hen is really protective of her babies.  She clucks loudly and ruffles her feathers when we get near.  We throw her and the babies some crushed up rice to eat each day.  It is neat to watch the momma hen scratch and peck at the rice on the ground and then see the chicks imitate her. 

They have lost most of their 'fuzz' and have little feathers on their wings.  They are active little creatures for sure.  The momma has not brought them out of the barn and instead keeps a close eye on them within the confines of the barn.  This is probably a smart move since we've had so much rain. I'm sure she'll venture out with them pretty soon.  

"I got your back, Momma!"

Although this wasn't planned, we needed a few replacement hens as I've buried a few hens in the garden this year.  It is normal to lose a few to old age, injury or predators.  Our chickens live out their lives in happiness, enjoying their golden years on green pastures and die doing what they were born to do - eat bugs, worms, and scratch through cow patties looking for a tasty morsel to devour.  Some get injured when they come underfoot of our 900 pound cows.  There's just too much of a weight differential there and if the chicken isn't attentive, she becomes a "chicken patty" pretty darn quick. We hope momma hen is teaching her chicks to stay well away from the relatively monstrous hooves of Daisy, Rosie, Clarabelle, and Luna. Just one misstep and all that would be left of the chicks is a grease spot.

Then there's predators.  Perhaps some of you picked up on the fact that momma hen hatched out four chicks and the photos only show two.  One morning we came out to the barn and two of the little boogers were missing.  We put out a barnyard amber alert, but no missing chicks were found. Sad! So what happened to them?  I know how they met their tragic end.  They punched their ticket in a particularly brutal and macabre fashion and I'll tell you about it tomorrow if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise.