I came home after doing some errands and asked my dd if she had changed the litter box yet. "I'll do that right away!" as she was coming back in she heard a peep in the back yard... I have been missing one of my blue marans and I thought a hawk had dined well for a couple days :-x They are hanging out something fierce this spring and there were grey feathers in the yard one day...so.it sounded like she was a gonner to me. Well, she was hiding out under the deck for a few weeks. ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) She presented us with 8 chicks. They are cute!
There is something so adorable about a hen with her chicks! I have only purchased chicks, all of the same breed. Is it usual to have different colors in one hatching?
Oh! How adorable!! I have no idea how it feels to be around baby chicks. The most close encounter I ever had was a petting Zoo. wish I could touch them; they look so cute!!!
Ware... they are as cute as can be! Jane, I have no idea if all the eggs were even hers. they could be any hens from out there. The striped ones look like the americaunas and the brown leghorns I raised last year. The black ones are darker than her as a chick, so no ideas as to what they will really look like as they grow. There are two roosters in the yard, a RIRed and partridge cochin. Mutt chicks is what I really have. If there is a nice rooster in this batch I will get rid of the RIRed and keep one of these. Greenfingers, they are so soft. Cheryl, they are quite the surprise! I wasn't expecting them at all.
Thanks S, She is called a Blue Copper Marans. I got four of them when I picked out the chicks. They lay a beautiful dark brown egg which is why I considered them even though I thought they were too pricey even at 5.00 each. I had a picture of all of them, but I must have erased it over the winter. I needed it for the girls that work where I got them. One has reddish hackle feathers that I was wondering about.
Well, I had never seen that sort of chicken. Y'know--I sure wish that I could keep chooks. I like them.
I have several different kinds. I will try to get pics for you to see them. I just came in from a flowerbed that needed a few (no, really, A LOT) of dandelions pulled and what did I find but another clutch of eggs. A dozen or more. . Well, I snatched them right up and filled my skirt and waddled in as carefully as I could. Dizzy birds!
What a lovely surprise!! Now you have eight new additions instead of one loss and aren't they just the cutest little fluff balls? Mum is rather splendid too and obviously knows how to stay out of the way of those hawks.
( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden ) I put the camera under the deck and snapped a shot. I haven't seen her all day as it ha been raining all day and she hasn't been out since early this morning. Here is another shot of momma wannabe's. I don't think they were very happy that I pulled them off their clutch of eggs. Silly hoarders! Each of them had 1/2 doz eggs each, at the very least. ( photo / image / picture from carolyn's Garden )
Chicks, hen, rooster and fresh eggs always remind me of the time when I was a kid staying in the village. It was fun and close to nature. Now I can only enjoy the sight of chickens in photos and the occasional chicken that ran across the road while driving near a village. Carolyn your photos of mother hen and chicks is a real treat for me, thank you. :-D
What a nice coupla pics of the mamma chooks at work. I'm not entirely clear on a couple of things: Are the chooks sitting on the eggs just laying in order to raise chicks, or are they laying and you take eggs to eat or sell from them? I can remember from my young days that my grandfather had two types if chooks. --The type that just laid eggs for consumption and what he called, "layers". These "layers" did not get up off the eggs, but just stayed sitting on them day and night. My grandparents did not want this type of hen and would try to break them of the laying habit. The "regular"hens would lay eggs then stand up and cackle loudly, but would not go back to the nest to keep the eggs going. This is the behaviour that my grandfather wanted. Of course every once and awhile, one of the regular hens would raise a batch of chicks, and then go back to her normal behaviour. I was aware of this behaviour as a child, but was too young to understand it. Tell me about your girls here and what's happening, please. Oh yes---and another question: Do you take the chickens all the way off their eggs in order to take the eggs? My grandparents would send me out to gather the eggs and they wanted mt to just slide my hand under the chooks and pull out all the eggs except one. This meant that I sometimes would get a little corrective peck on my forearm. hahaha. I did not like that, but got used to it....sort of like being stung by bees.. You don't like it, but you get used to it.
