Our very first chicks! I was so excited I ran across the yard to get Richard from the house. My heart is full of chicken love. I’ve been looking after the broody mums so I guess this makes me a chicken grandmother at 28.
Muppet & Gaia’s eggs hatched this afternoon. I managed to get a photograph of one but I don’t want to disturb the new mums too much.
We have *no* idea if you are supposed to site two mums and chicks together in the same secure space but they’ve been here happily since they went broody. I can’t find anything in the books that warns against it, so we’ll just have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they all seem to get on. I think Muppet (the black silkie) has 3 successes and Gaia has at least one. One chick did not emerge fully from the shell and perished, but you can’t really intervene to stop this.
It’s probably a little strange to get so excited about hatching chickens but there is still a sense of awe in watching a broody hen sit on her eggs for a committed 21 days and seeing little fluffy chicks emerging. I think I’m more excited about it than the chickens. I just can’t see the attraction of incubators though, the best part of it is seeing the mother chick eye to eye with her little creation.
Now for the potentially sad bit…survival of the fittest.