firstborn

proud daddy

I am totally impressed with anyone who has the patience to wait 11 months for a foal to be born. I have been on pins and needles for the last 21 days waiting for my first set of chicks to hatch out. I have two game hens sitting on the same nest and the eggs were all laid close together by them and the other hens. I started with 14 eggs but several got broken along the way and I ended up with 9 or 10.

Two nights ago when I checked I thought I heard some peeping but the hens are so fierce I try to keep lifting them up to look at a minimum. Yesterday morning I saw 2 chicks and by this morning I have 4. The hens are still sitting so I hope a few more will be born during the day today. Today was the day I calculated to have the most hatch.

I have another game hen sitting on some eggs under my storage building. I can’t reach her or see how many eggs she has there. She comes out once a day for a quick bite to eat then goes right back in. I have concerns for her safety there and don’t know how well the chicks will do being born on the ground but she made her choice.

I am having to keep a close watch on the chickens as I have lost 4 hens already this year. I suspect a fox comes and he will take them during the day even when I am home. I have started keeping them in the yard most days but today they are out so the new mothers can have some privacy and I can keep Owl, the cat, locked out of the coop. Lucy, my best layer, is not happy with me but she did manage to lay an egg in the manure cart while Big Dog, the rooster, stood guard.

Big Dog is, of course, quite pleased with himself and so far all the chicks are black like him. Not sure what a Plymouth Rock/ game chicken cross will look like when it grows up. I am hopeful I will get a hen that will lay well but be able to fly enough to get away from predators. I will keep you posted. Madalyn