Just fyi, if you give her a hatched chick, she may abandon her eggs to show it how to eat. It depends on the broody, but if there is a chance her eggs will hatch late, I would wait a bit before adding the little guy to her brood. I've had a staggered broody hatch that went that way. Sorry for butting in, just a thought.
Bonbon Delivers! 21 days
I worked in the backyard all afternoon with the chickens, and every couple of hours, I'd check on Bonbon. I had felt totally positive about the hatch since Bonbon appeared to be a serious broody. Although I knew that logically she might not hatch at exactly 21 days, by late afternoon I was starting to brace myself for the possibility that the hatch would fail since she's a new mom. I thought of all the posts I've read from members who've posted that their broodies were supposed to hatch, but nothing had happened yet, and they were worried. Those posts were always followed by thrilling news of their broodies' hatches. Around 6:00pm this evening my son stopped by, and I decided to check on Bonbon. I looked in and heard peeping and then saw a teeny tiny chicken foot sticking out from under Bonbon! Then the miniature chick stepped out a minute to see the world-- and test out her voice! Here's a video: Bonbon's first chick 6:00pm May 7, 2014
kaphyper gave me great advice, and coincidentally, her Silkie hen Suki is in the middle of hatching, too! kabhyper said not to look under Bonbon to see what's going on because I could shrink wrap any hatching chicks. The eggs came from jchny-- 3 bantam OEGB and 1 bantam Mille Fleur. Hope they all hatch!! Thank you!
We live in the city--6 miles from downtown Indy--and we hear roosters crowing. We don't have any, but the sounds are coming from at least 2 different directions in our neighborhood. No neighbors asked us if we minded hearing roosters crowing.
The 3 so far. One more just out and a couple are pipped.
Hope you get better soon!
Love seeing all of your chicks/chickens! Very cute!Here's a picture of Bonbon's 4 bantam chicks! The two light colored ones are Old English Game Birds - Red Pyle color, the brownish chick in the back is a Mille Fleur d'Uncle, and the striped one in front is an Old English Game Bird - Wheaton color. (according to jchny, the egg donor!)
Below: These not so great photos are of my other "chicks" who are now 4 months old. I knew these photos would be too dark, but I wanted to put a name with the face-- because I finally named them!
L - R: "Ditzy" ~ a very fluffy beautiful Blue Splash Silkie pullet who isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer; "Bixley" ~ a pretty Blue Silkie pullet who has the fluffiest feet (too bad you can't see them-- or the faces of the blue Silkies); "Smalty" (smalt is a blue pigment) ~ a handsome Blue Silkie cockerel who hasn't caused any rooster-related issues yet; and "Eliza" an Imported English Orpington pullet ~ Blue Splash. jchny is now the owner of Eliza's brother, the Blue Roo.
Advertisement: Silkies from bradselig and Orps from Kiniska
Although they're the same age, the Silkies have always acted like the Orps were their parents. Now Eliza is pulled in two directions-- she loves her Silkies, but is really anxious to join the flock of 5 LF hens (who aren't very welcoming). Then, to confuse things even more, my only bantam hen Bonbon has four bantam babies.
What?? That is just not right! What kind did you get from TSC? I am just curious.
Huh - this whole time I've been planning our "hen only" flock and a big part of that was trying to be considerate of our neighbor's. We are rural and aren't bound by any sort of regulations as far as flock size, roosters, etc, but in the spirit of trying to be a good neighbor I had figured keeping a roo would be a bad idea. So, last night I was out moving the chickens (DH has promised that hell get the chicken door squared away this weekend so I don't have to carry all 16 birds back and forth every evening to get them their outside time in the run) and DH came by as I was moving my one "for sure" roo (have a few others I am questioning) and DH says, "Are you sure you don't want to just keep him?" I said something about the neighbor issue and DH comes back with, "Well, if that's your reasoning both Charlie and Chuck/Jane were asking about that -- I told them you weren't keeping roos and they said that was one thing they'd been looking forward too because they 'love hearing a rooster crow'". WHAT? I have no reason to think they were being anything but sincere, so I guess it looks like I need to make a point to make a visit to both of them in the next week or two and hear it straight from them -- and if it's true I guess the dude is here to stay (and will need a name). I can't help but think about all the people who have neighbors that complain or cities that prohibit roosters, and here I have both immediate neighbors that actually WANT a rooster living here.
I really can't believe this! Wish you could get a refund or something, that is just too strange that all of them died within a week of getting them. I got 8 Cornish X from TSC back in early April and have all they made it so far (no thanks to our cat who attacked one chick, but it survived). I am just so sorry for you.
