July 18th Mega Hatch

[Ruthster55]

We have had a series of broody hens this year. Here's a brief rundown of the broods, together with pictures of Broody Hen Nº 7's chick explosion!!

Nº 1 - One gray chick that grew up to be a beautiful gray hen.
Nº 2 - Seven chicks - three cockerels and four pullets
Nº 3 - Two chicks - lost during an intense rainstorm when I let them out too early
Nº 4 - Four chicks - three cockerels and one pullet
Nº 5 - Three chicks - not identifiable to sex yet
Nº 6 - 0 - Failed Hatch - hen rehomed
Nº 7 - today I went out to the chicken yard and heard peeping. I checked the broody hen and couldn't believe how many babies there are!!
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[HappyClucker7]

Wow! That hen has a lot of work to do now!

 

[Ruthster55]

I let everyone stay in the nest box for a while this afternoon. We have nice and sunny weather today. I figured I would check on Mama and babies once in a while to make sure she was taking care of them and that none had fallen out of the nest box.

When I went back and checked around 2:30 this afternoon, Mama was down on the ground tut-tutting to her babies. She was trying to get them to follow her.

I had planned to do the transfer to a more secure cage tonight while everyone was sleeping, but something told me that I had better do it this afternoon.

Decisive action was needed to prevent any babies falling down to the ground, getting lost, or getting taken by whatever bad weather is to come.

Earlier, I transferred the previous occupants of the cage and got it ready for the new brood. I transferred mom and babies to the new cage and put down some cardboard so that Mama wouldn't feel too cold underneath.

We have a new rooster. He's not even the father of these chicks. New rooster took exception to me moving the first batch of babies to their new home, but he was totally cool with the next batches. New rooster will be moving to a specific breeding coop as soon as we get that coop finished in a few days.

I checked a bit later and Mama is showing her many babies on the cardboard where the food is located! There are at least 15 chicks! Here are a few members of the young mob in their new quarters.
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[Ruthster55]

They are learning all about the world under Mama's expert tutelage with some scattered chick crumble! I put a feed sack on top of the cage to help everybody stay warm tonight!

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

She is beautiful!!

 

[Ruthster55]

Thank You!

She is probably maxxed out on her number of babies!!

 

[N F C]

That's a whole lot of chicks for one mom, looks like she's doing a good job with them

 

[Ruthster55]

Everyone is active and going for food and water. I put marbles in the water.

They got some scrambled eggs this afternoon as a treat. It's hard to get a picture of all of them! The hen is like the old woman who lived in the shoe!

Our new rooster insisted on some scrambled eggs for his girls so he got the larger pieces of scrambled egg and the babies got the little pieces.
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[Ruthster55]

Rodents are known pests around chicken coops. The cats are paying their keep with mousing work! This is their fifth one over a span of around a month!

The baby chicks are in a secure raised cage that the cats can't access.

I tried counting the babies. Every time I try counting, I get a different number because those babies like to move! There are 11 in this picture!

 

[Ruthster55]

Here's the proud father of all those baby chicks! He's a sweet, gentle rooster.