Chicks school

We decided to transfer the 4 broody hens along with the 10 baby chicks that they hatched. 

This is the original spot where the eggs hatched.  The space is too small so they were transferred to a separate brooder.

I don't know at this point which chick thinks which hen is their mother.  Just a brief background, these chicks were from our rogue hen that laid eggs in the bushes and I discovered 12 of them.  I placed 11 eggs under the broody hens.  At least 6 of my hens had gone broody but these 4 hens are really dedicated to caring for the 10 chicks that hatched. 

And guess what, all 11 eggs hatched under the hen but 1 died because it possibly got crushed by hens having custody battle.  Or it could have been due to me interfering with the hatching process where I helped crack the egg and the mother hen was not impressed at all.  So I'm left with 10.  That's really impressive.  Nature does do wonders! In my incubator, my best hatch rate was only 73%.  Under the hen, it is 100% (not counting the one that died).  Can you imagine that?  And these eggs were exposed to cold as well.

Anyway we transferred them from the main coop to the brooder we built last month.  The only thing is they are not as secure as the main coop as this is directly on the ground but with electric fence around hopefully they will be safe.

So here's the video of the 10 day old baby chicks with their 4 mother hen.  They're being taught on how to scratch and forage.  It's amazing how nature works.

The Unexpected Chicks

About more than a couple of weeks ago, I discovered a nest full of eggs behind the bushes near our apple tree.  Actually the dogs discovered it first.  I’ve been suspecting one of our hens has been laying eggs somewhere outside the fenced-in area.  She’s a great escape artist and manages to go through the electric fence without showing any discomfort or anything.  She would do the egg song around mid day and I've been trying to search where she's been laying.  She had been sitting on them during the day but at night she goes home to their coop.  So I didn't expect these eggs to hatch.

I collected them anyway knowing I can’t eat them.  But after I candled them I realized 11 eggs are developing quite nicely inside.  So I placed them under the broody hens and not really expecting anything from them.  Today, five chicks miraculously hatched.  And they look healthy.  I’m still fretting because unlike the incubator, the nesting boxes aren’t really well sanitized.  But I guess that’s how nature works. 

I was ready to toss them today as I thought it wouldn’t hatch because they didn’t have the right environment for the first few days of incubation.  These eggs were exposed to cold at night for probably a week before my dogs discovered the nest around the bushes.  Life is indeed a miracle.

The newly hatched baby chicks are very calm and confident.  I can see a big difference between those that were hatched through my incubator.  I guess the mother hen’s loving care is far better than the human’s haha.

Here’s the video of the 3 baby chicks. The other 2 baby chicks are being taken care of another hens.  Yes, I’ve placed the eggs on multiple hens.  And various hens actually take turns to sit on them.

And this video is where the other 2 baby chicks hatched.  I placed the eggs under multiple hens.  But in this nest box, three hens are competing to be the mother. I wonder what they are telling the babies.  They definitely are communicating to them.  LOL.

And here's a few photos:

She's not the biological mother but she sat on them for weeks and loves them!

 

Can you tell, she's not the biological mother? Ironic, she rejected the black chick so I placed it with the other 3 hens.

Three hens sharing 'custody' of the 2 baby chicks :)

Well, I think I'm going to put my hen on birth control. It would be tough to have baby chicks once winter comes :)

Till next post...