New Life on the Farm

Yesterday we talked about losing a baby goat.  It was odd, because Domino seemed to be the strongest of Annie's triplets.  When he got sick, though, it knocked him down quickly.  We're on the final day of treatment for the other affected buckling, and he seems to be progressing nicely toward a full recovery.  It's always sad to lose an animal you weren't expecting on losing.  That's just the way it goes, however.  Animals are remarkably resilient and time marches on.

As if to get our minds off of the loss of Domino, we looked over during evening chores to see a momma hen come strutting up with her feathers all fluffed out with four baby chicks following closely behind her!  We went from being sad about the loss to being happy about new life in an instant.

We have hens that get broody all the time, but we don't let them set.  This hen got wise and decided she'd go find a hiding place, lay some eggs there, hatch them, and raise her babies without us having a say in the matter.  I looked and looked and finally found her hiding place.  In the bull pasture (that we call the bull pen), there is an old dog kennel under a chicken tractor.  I opened up the end of the tractor so that Buckwheat, the billy goat, can get inside when it is raining.  The momma hen figured she could get inside too!  I found the eggshells left over from the hatched out chicks.  I also found two un-hatched eggs.  Perhaps they weren't fertilized?  We try to have 1 rooster for every 10 hens to ensure fertilization, but sometimes that ratio doesn't work out.

We also found one baby chick that hatched out, but for whatever reason, didn't survive.  This happens from time to time.

At first the momma hen keep her little family far away from us and the rest of the chickens.  Slowly, she began to bring them closer, especially when I threw some hen scratch and laying pellets her way.

She began to teach her little ones how to scratch hay out of the way to expose the feed.  She was a good teacher.  The chicks imitated her actions and soon were scratching, pecking, and eating - just like momma!

I put out a pan of clean water for the chicks and we'll keep a close eye on them.  It'll be fun to watch them grow up!