Our chicks hatched Monday and Tuesday of this week. Our Olga hatched out 8 chicks! One of them is a little bit bolder than the rest, and while Olga has had them out and about WITHIN the coop, one little bold fella decided he wanted to venture into the doorway and see what it was all these big chickens were going out to see.
His father is a mottled java. His mother is one of 3 hens ... either an EE, an ameraucana, or a blue ameraucana/BCM/penedesenca mix mother. Of the 8 chicks she hatched, 4 were her own (she is from an american game roo x EE hen and is small, has an american game temperament and appearance and goes broody whenever the wind blows). The other 4 chicks were 2 of the blue ameraucana/BCM/penedesenca's eggs, and one each of the ameraucana and the EE. We can tell which ones are Olga's babies because they're smaller than the others (hatched from smaller eggs). Also, the chicks from the other 3 hens all have the puffy cheeks associated with ameraucanas/EE's. All the babies look like mottled java chicks, though--just some are obviously going to develop muffs/beards like their mothers.
We also received some chicks from Ideal this week (WFBS). One of them was loud and seemed to be having some difficulty, so we gave him/her to Olga to see if she would take it. She absorbed it like a sponge, and now it's just one of the crew she has out in the coop. We can tell that one from the others because it's more silver & black, while the mottled java babies are more yellow & black.
HHHandbasket--well, whatever his pedigree, he sure is a cutie pie.
One of them was loud and seemed to be having some difficulty, so we gave him/her to Olga to see if she would take it. She absorbed it like a sponge....
There's no substitute for a good broody when you have a chick that had a rough start. I had one last year that was a runt that chirped constantly. Luckily, Natasha adopted the chick, waiting on the nest a few more days for it to get stronger while the robust chicks played and ran about in the coop. Whew!!!! What a relief that was for me...not for her I'm sure, betcha she had a headache.
