Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Do I hear a peep?

 Peep peep!  Things are coming alive here on the "farm"!  Ginger, the newest edition to our little flock had only started laying for a few weeks before she decided that everyone needed a little more excitement around here.  I went out to get eggs one day and she was sitting in the nest box that all the hens use (I have two, but they only ever use one...go figure).  Figuring she was in the process of laying an egg, I decided I'd come back later once she was done and off the nest.  That afternoon I came back and she was still on the nest.  Hmmm....I guess I'll wait until tomorrow.  I think you know where this is going.  Tomorrow came and she hadn't moved.  Then I realized that she was broody and was wanting to hatch those little eggs out.  I was delighted of course!  Chickens are not as easy to come by around here as you'd think and my flock only had four hens and a rooster with plenty of room for more.  
Ginger is the lowest hen in the pecking order and so when the other hens needed to lay their eggs, they'd kick her off the nest.  One hen isn't laying right now, so that meant that Ginger was laying on the eggs from herself and two other hens.  Yay!  I let the eggs accumulate for a few days until it looked like she couldn't possibly fit anymore underneath her (it was about a dozen).  Then I put magic marker lines on them and every day I'd go out and take out the eggs that didn't have marker on them (the other hens were still kicking her off the nest).  Twenty one days later.....chicks started hatching! 

 
The mama's being a good mama!

What's that peeping out from under her wing??

Sorry mama...we've just got to see what's underneath!

So incredibly adorable.  I'm hoping to handle them enough so they'll grow up friendly...Ginger doesn't seem to mind too much.  


 They all have the same papa, a blue splash maran (this breed lays maroon colored eggs), but three different breeds of mothers, Ginger is a Buff Orphington/Brahma mix, Cleome is a Brahma, and Jenny is an Araucana.  The chicks mostly look very similar, but some are a little tanner than others and some have feathered feet.  When you mix marans and araucana, you often get hens that lay olive colored eggs...I'm hoping for some of that!  We'll see!  Hopefully most are hens, as I can't keep many or maybe any roosters... :(

Peep peep!




4 comments:

Dicky Bird said...

I too have had a good chick year. I never thought of marking the eggs to know which ones were being set on and which were fresh laid... so I could take those....good idea! My hens do the same and make a "catch" of eggs then one or two will set and fight over them....have fun!

Vintage by Crystal said...

I'm so glad you're having a good chick year too! They're so much fun. :)

Lisa W. said...

How wonderful ! Thanks for sharing !

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