My favorite hen

[Ayla_noemi]

Last year my husband could not resist the urge to purchase the remaining assorted bantams at our local Tractor Supply. My reaction was “What do we want with an assortment of bantams?” He said he wanted to raise them then release them to live free range on our land. My immediate response was “They’re going to get eaten”. I said this because we have a fox who likes to lurk at night and I figured they would fall victim to the fox as they slept. Well technically I was right it’s not even a year later and only half of the original group are left to include his favorite pair which seemed to me like Birchen Cochin bantams. One of the few remaining however is this gal. She not only managed to survive but chose to commit to motherhood before any other of my hens regardless of breed. Not a single abandoned nest or broken egg. She is super friendly and smart enough to decide that the safest place to nest was on a shelf in my husbands workshop. Sadly only 2 of the 10 eggs in her first clutch were fertile. However she really cemented her place as my favorite chicken when two days after her two chicks hatched. We hatched two incubated eggs from another bantam who would lay eggs in a new spot each day and I got it in my head to introduce them to the new mother above. I was cautious at first and placed the chicks about two feet away in order to gauge her reaction. I fell in love when she got off her nest and walked to the peeping chicks and sat on them. After a few seconds she led them back to her other chicks. It’s been 14 weeks since I took this picture of her with all four chicks and she is currently a few days away from hatching 10 fertile eggs last I candled. All four of her chicks have survived and seem to have inherited her intelligence. The do not roost with the rest of the free range chickens instead the found a way to roost on the support rafters of my barn as a group. An added bonus for my husband is that all four of them seem to have been sired by his Birchen Cochin Roo. I have no idea what breed she is but she is still my favorite.

Ps. Please ignore the child scissors I was trying to show my sister her approximate size.

 

[nminusyplusm]

They are lovely! Sounds like you're on your way to a flock of mini genius chickens!

 

[sherlishaaa]

Shes beautiful!

 

[Dawnjanell]

Nothing better then a good mother hen, it so fun to watch them care for and teach the chickies.

 

[theoldchick]

What a wonderful story!

 

[N F C]

Pretty girl and a good mom too!

 

[Plip]

What a great hen! Thanks for sharing that with us!

 

[Ayla_noemi]

This mornings surprize 9/10 ain’t bad. That’s my girl!

 

[nminusyplusm]

Congrats of your beautiful babies! And momma, way to go!