Foolhardy? You bet and I'm loving every minute of it!

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Thank you all! Checked the lil' mommie this morning and she was just getting up...the babies were starting to scratch around but a couple kept darting back under her when they got cold..it was 40 degrees here last night! I refilled her food dish and she clucked them over for breakfast! I am so overwhelmed with pride in NeeNee that I find myself tearing up on occasion. I am also so happy that she now has a purpose--since the other hens were so mean to her she has been lonely and now she has a reason to be isolated and is so much happier. The funny part? The babies she is mothering are the offspring to the mean old hens that kept attacking her. Kharma stinks huh lol.

 

[newchickmom]

LOL

Way to go neenee!!

 

[artsyrobin]

Love it!! pics of dear Neenee? i have heard of folks getting silkies just for brooders....

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I will try to go get a pic of her with the babies now...

 

[SilkieTime]

How can people not love them?

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Here ya go!

what color would you say she is? and yes, the chick directly beside her is a BR cross... : )

 

[Patchesnposies]

I LOVE this story!

Earlier this summer, I had a brooder full of week old serama chicks. My son brought in a juvenile EE pullet that had gotten soaked in a sudden downpour and was hunched up and shivering, so we decided to put her in the brooder with the babies under the heat lamp to warm up. As she dried out the tiny little chicks got over their terror of this huge monster we had put in with them and were soon snuggling up against her nice warm fluffy feathers.

Like you, I would tear up at the natural mommy-ness of this little pullet that wasn't a whole heck of a lot older than these babies were. Soon they were taking turns riding on her back as she walked around and she, too, would tuck them under her to sleep.

Even when we moved them out to the outdoor brooder, Nanny McFeather's continued take care of them. (Five out of my six children are adopted and it was wonderful for them to note how she "adopted" those chicks.)

I'll bet Miss NeeNee will be an excellent broody hen for you when she begins to lay!

 

[Mrs. K]

I always amazes me when people use a brooders, because a hen is sooooo much better if you get a good one. IMHO that hen has got a free ride for life. I had to BO hatch out chicks, and they really mothered those chicks for 8 weeks. I would laugh when she would call a time out and warm everyone up!

 

[4 luv of eggs]

Wonderful story. If you can't make friends, grow your own. She's beautiful, by the way.

 

[DebsChicks]

What a wonderful story! You've a treasure in NeeNee for sure!

Just a bit off topic, but I saw you are in Wilkesboro, NC. I'm in Statesville! Lived in Moravian Falls for about 3 years till I moved back down in '01 to care for my dad who had had a stroke.