Two weeks later we transferred those eggs to a broody hen and 28 days or so later we had chicks. But we also had several other eggs deposited into the nest during this time of incubation, as some of the other ladies were also hearing the call of mother nature and were not to be outdone. So we let the first hen out to the nursery with her brood and a different mother hen took up the post. Well, this was working nicely until the first hen would not accept a chick that hatched out a few days later.
She was incensed at the intruder and attacked the chick, thus spraining its leg. When Little Sister and her friend witnessed this they quickly scooped up the wounded chick and pleaded for its convalesce in none other than my kitchen!
Then the chick had the kids trained. At first it had a sweet "peep" which turned into a demanding "cheep"..then an ear splitting chirp...and it kept chirping and chirping louder and louder until one of the kids would come pick it up. Talk about a major distraction from school! Pretty soon I had a chick FREE RANGING IN MY LIVING ROOM!
It was fun at first...
Then the chick had the kids trained. At first it had a sweet "peep" which turned into a demanding "cheep"..then an ear splitting chirp...and it kept chirping and chirping louder and louder until one of the kids would come pick it up. Talk about a major distraction from school! Pretty soon I had a chick FREE RANGING IN MY LIVING ROOM!
" This is not to be borne!" (Exclaimed in Lady Catherine de Bourgh's voice.)
So I went to the feed store and bought a couple Auracana chicks to keep it company. Now there are three. But wait-if you act now- I will throw in three more because they are hatching out every day, and they are so cute we need to bring them inside so they don't get picked on by the mean mother hen! (Meanwhile our convalescing chick has quite mended and is twice the size of the others although only 10 days older)
But that's not the half of it!
Iron Man has been tending the chickens very closely since we started this project, (I have failed to mention that he is also known around the Farrm as "The Chicken Whisperer") he watches for new chicks, collects the eggs faithfully and feeds and tends to the coop duties. I was not aware that he had adjusted the broody hen regimen when I went out last week to collect eggs... I was not aware that we had TWO hens sitting on eggs just days away from hatching... I just collected eggs as usual and took them inside and put them in the refrigerator...
That evening, IronMan was as distraught as a mother hen who can't find her chicks. We rushed to the fridge, but 8 hours in refrigeration? Surely it was too long and too cold for the hatchlings. But The Chicken Whisperer would not hear of it. We put them in with the chicks under the heat lamp. ( I am certainly glad I hadn't planned omeletes for dinner!)
Friday was a lovely day. We had sunshine so I opened the doors and windows to air the house out and uplift our spirits. I noticed that the chick box need to be cleaned--it was smelling. Then it happened--about 2 pm one of the eggs cracked--but not provoked by an emerging chick, no, there is no happy ending to this story--more likely it was stepped on by a chick running over the top of it and POW! Stink to high heaven!! It is a good thing we had the doors and windows open. We quickly disposed of the rest of the eggs.
But we are not done with our tale yet--
"Move the chicks out to the back porch," I declared "they will enjoy the sunshine." And they did-- for a while.
IronMan and I left to go on a date. When we returned we heard the tragedy --
The moral of the story:
Don't let a boxer baby-sit your chicks.
Ajax ate three.
