GS Farm Musings: 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.