All was well with my little backyard flock but Miss Silver, my OEGB x silkie pullet, was broody and hankering for some chicks. There's no rooster in my flock so, unless I provided her with chicks or some fertile eggs, she was not going to get her much-longed-for brood of chicks. She sat on air for over three weeks and, finally, I couldn't stand it any longer so I went to a farm where they always have chicks and bought two little newly hatched fuzzy wuzzies for her...a frizzle and a Polish. I snuck out that night and tucked the two little ones under her and, in the morning, she was fairly glowing from becoming a new mom, clucking to them and showing them how to eat and drink. It warmed the shackles of my heart!
You are probably wondering why the subject says what it does and I haven't even mentioned Lacy. It's coming; fear not!
All went well for six weeks when, one day, all of a sudden, Miss Silver started pecking her chicks whenever they got near her, totally confusing them...it made me almost cry! She didn't want to be a mommy anymore!! Off to one side was Lacy, my GLW, observing this horrible act of nature and she began to slowly, hour by hour, get nearer to the two chicks, calling them softly like a mother hen. She would find bugs and worms for them and, finally, they started to respond and come running to see what goodies she had found. By the next day, they were following Lacy around like she was their mother and Lacy was basking in her new found motherhood! That night she tucked the two little ones under her wings on the roost and that's where they slept every night until they were too daggone big to fit under her anymore.
Lacy was not broody when the two chicks were with Miss Silver. I don't know what made her take over the mothering. Has anybody else had that happen?
You are probably wondering why the subject says what it does and I haven't even mentioned Lacy. It's coming; fear not!
All went well for six weeks when, one day, all of a sudden, Miss Silver started pecking her chicks whenever they got near her, totally confusing them...it made me almost cry! She didn't want to be a mommy anymore!! Off to one side was Lacy, my GLW, observing this horrible act of nature and she began to slowly, hour by hour, get nearer to the two chicks, calling them softly like a mother hen. She would find bugs and worms for them and, finally, they started to respond and come running to see what goodies she had found. By the next day, they were following Lacy around like she was their mother and Lacy was basking in her new found motherhood! That night she tucked the two little ones under her wings on the roost and that's where they slept every night until they were too daggone big to fit under her anymore.
Lacy was not broody when the two chicks were with Miss Silver. I don't know what made her take over the mothering. Has anybody else had that happen?
