My hatch is still ongoing & I have a lot of chicks in my brooder again. This year I have hatched more chicks than ever before, it's kind of crazy.
Me too - it does feel crazy. I have an aging flock and especially those laying colored eggs are aging so I suddenly realized I had to acquire more chicks in order to continue to get the colored eggs. The past few years I've only added chicks by hatching them but as my only roosters are Barred Rock and New Hampshire, all I was adding were hens that would lay brown eggs and I wanted the other colors as well.
I just agreed to get 10 more chicks from Trish44 so her craziness is apparently contagious
Meanwhile, I have a broody turkey and one of my hens who broods every year decided to sit with her so she has taken over a half dozen of the turkey eggs as well. I'll need to get her some chicks to raise when hatch day comes as the poults won't listen to a chicken hen when there is a turkey mama around. Fortunately she's a good broody and mama and has been down this road a few times in the past so I may be able to give her chicks after only a week or two sitting and not have to wait out the full three weeks.
One of my goat kids left today. She went to a really good home, I think, so I'm happy for her and happy to have one less that I'm responsible for. Kilo my LGD came out of the pasture and supervised her being loaded. He appeared to be saying goodbye. He is really attached to the kids and I wondered how he'd be when it came time for them to leave but he seemed fine - just happy to be part of it and to understand what was happening.
Yesterday I looked into the pasture and saw a hen lying, apparently dead. I figured the pups had got her but as I watched she raised her head. I went in and picked her up and I think they did play with because she was slobbered all over. However despite the fact she had been lying on her side looking quite dead a moment before, I couldn't find any injuries on her. Nevertheless, I deserve an oscar for the performance of a lifetime. I sat down on a stump and cradled her in my arms and cried - loud and long. Cried and cried and cried. The whole time I kept moaning "mine, mine mine. Kilo, she's mine. Karina, she's mine". Karina was SO sad to see how sad I was about the hen. She came up and sniffed the hen in my arms and then lay down at my feet, looking up at me sadly. I feel like I really made an impact on them learning that the birds are important to me and need to be protected, not played with. The good thing is, though they had obviously played with her, they hadn't killed her and they weren't anywhere near her when I found her so had given up playing voluntarily, even before I had any idea they'd caught her at all. I'm really hoping seeing how upset it made me to find her like that reminds them that birds are not to be played with the next time they get that idea. After my acting performance, I carried her to the coop and set her down and she ran off like nothing had happened. I was somewhat concerned that if she had a bad shock yesterday, she might die from shock overnight, but today she is fine. Overall these pups have done wonderfully. Poultry are hard for LGDs to learn and they are still young yet. Most of the time they birds can run past them without reaction so I think a few reminders when they're feeling playful and then I won't have to worry about them at all.
Last night was their first night actually protecting the sheep. Due to the rain expected overnight, I didn't want to lock them out of the barn so I left the barn gate open. The dogs have been outside on their own for the past month but without the pressure of sheep to guard since they were still locked in the barn. But, they got through their first night with flying colors - all sheep and goats accounted for this morning