A few months ago my dog ate my favorite chicken, Stella a buff orpington. The next day her best friend Lily, a blue wyandotte started sitting in the nest. This is the first time Lily had ever gone broody. I picked up Lily to find two eggs under her, one Lily's and one Stella's. I went home that night and took all of Stella's eggs out of the refrigerator 5 total and set them on the counter overnight. The next day I put them under Lily. I didn't know whether Lily would take this broody thing seriously but I figured I'd take a chance. Lily had laid another egg so there was a total of 8. The rooster has a story of his own... "Lucky" is a fighting cock. My place is near an area where the fighting cock people choose to dump their losers. Usually we euthanize them because they are too injured. Well one day Lucky showed up... He seemed relatively healthy so I left him (we live in an area with MANY wild chickens). Two days past and I saw him always sitting in the same spot so I decided to try to catch him. I brought him food and he hobbled over as quickly as he could to start eating. I noticed one eye was sealed shut. I reached to get him and he jumped away so I grabbed him on his blind side, tucked him under my arm and took him home. Once in his new pen he drank water for a good five minutes. Lucky has a non-wight bearing leg and about a week after I got him I was considering euthanizing him because I assumed his was in great pain. The vet was out that day to see one of my horses so I asked him to look at Lucky. It seems Lucky's leg was fused in a bent position and not painful at all! His eye opened and was completely blind on the left side but he was healthy! So now you know how he got the name Lucky! Back to Lily. Exactly on day 21 Lily hatched 7 perfect little chicks, 1 blue, 1 black, and 5 rust-yellow. 1 of Stella's eggs was a dud. Now I have no idea what these chicks will grow up to look like but then I don't really care either, I have 5 little pieces of Stella and that makes me happy.
Lily and the babies:
The babies:
Lucky:
A young Stella on Easter with my daughter:
Lily and the babies:
The babies:
Lucky:
A young Stella on Easter with my daughter:
