I have two broody hens right now, one (Donna) with a due date of July 8 and the other (Athena) July 12. However, one of Donna’s eggs hatched early on the 3rd. I’m not sure if it was because of the really hot and humid weather or if the egg had been developing prior somehow. I gave her a fresh...
Six week update - all five are healthy and really beautiful! I suspect I have two, maybe three, cockerels.
The Brabanter twins, Manon and Rowan - very difficult to tell gender with the v-combs. The four-toed is larger than the five-toed and is quite feisty. Both are growing black crests.
The...
The chicks are seven days old today so here’s our one-week update!
Photos 1 & 2 - Y1
Photos 3 & 4 - Y2
Y1 and Y2 - Y1 actually does have five toes, not four, so two of the five chicks have this feature. Y2 does also appear to have feathered legs, albeit much less so than Y1.
Photos 5 & 6 -...
My hen recently hatched five adorable chicks. I am so interested to see how they turn out, as my flock consists of a variety of breeds. I know time will tell but I thought it’d be fun to document from the beginning and start a guessing game!
The father is a Salmon Faverolles rooster. He has...
Thank you! And yes, I totally agree and wanted to respect the process but I was just so worried about the ant problem we have and really wanted to ensure the chicks didn’t die because of that.
The separate housing unit - when you have a broody hen, do you move her to this space? I was worried...
Yes, thank you! I won’t be doing so anymore. I boarded her area up so no other hens can disturb her and now that I know ants won’t be an issue I’m going to let her do her thing.
I lifted her this morning to retrieve any eggs laid by my other hens in her nest and saw one of hers pipping. This evening I checked again because we have a lot of ants where we live and I wanted to make sure there were none in her nest trying to get to the hatching chicks (I’ve taken measures...
My broody hen is on day 20 and one of her five eggs pipped this morning! I just checked again and noticed that the outer shell is peeled off in a lot of places but the chick seems still stuck inside the membrane. It is peeping and moving a lot. Is this normal? Is the membrane too dry? Photo...
Thank you so much!
For context, I have nine hens and one rooster. Shelly is now on day four of laying on the clutch. She is in one of the nesting boxes in the coop (there are four total). When she takes breaks other hens will lay eggs in her spot. I’ve been removing those eggs.
This morning...
Two of my hens went broody at the same time a few days ago (an EE named Shelly and a barnyard mix named Cody) but Cody only lasted throughout the night and part of the morning, then quit. My Easter Egger, Shelly, however, has stuck it out! I marked the seven eggs she’s been laying on because we...
Yes, I gave him to a friend because my flock used to free range but now we have a large run for them so he is contained and no longer poses a risk to my kids. He isn’t aggressive with me when I go in there and really he was just startled by my toddler on his bike. He’s a great rooster and...
My husband came home with a new chicken and I am unsure what breed she is. She is extremely shy when I come around so getting a picture wasn’t easy, so I hope these photos are enough to ID her!
She has what appear to be black legs, a black beak, and orange eyes. She’s solid black except for...