thefadedstitch
Chirping
Okay, let me start by saying that I was a sucker at a flea market and brought home what I thought was an injured white crested black Polish hen a couple of months ago. Now I think she's just disabled. I kept her quarantined and all the right ways to introduce her to the flock, making sure she wasn't sick. My concern was her being picked on by the flock because of her disability. So, around the same time, I brought some Delaware chicks home from TSC. I put the Polish hen, Gertrude (Gertie for short), in with the chicks and watched for a bit.
She was not aggressive in any manner toward the chicks and got along amazingly well from the start with them, even while they climbed all over her.
Fast forward a month. I was moving them to a better spot for cold weather and thinking of leaving Gertie for a couple more days before bringing her. As I was putting the chicks in the cage to transport, Gertie was circling the cage and appearing extremely worried about them. In other words, she wasn't letting them leave without her. I put her in the cage with them. Again, she sat patiently with the chicks. More and more I'm getting a kick out of the situation, especially knowing that Polish aren't exactly broody to begin with.
It was so cold out that I decided to bring the group in until I get a better setup for young chicks in place. Now, for three mornings in a row, I've walked by to check on everyone in the group and found Gertie with chicks under her wings, on her back, snuggled up to her and generally acting like happy chicks in close vicinity to her. I also have a very spoiled Dominique chick inside with me. She's been recovering from the stress of being moved and now I'm afraid to mover her back into the cold weather, lol. Well, Ethel was going to eat with the "newbs" and Gertie was not having it in any way. Ethel was immediately expelled from the "nest". I find this all laughable because of the situation in which Gertie became a foster hen.
It's also taken me a month to figure out why she hasn't been laying...
She was not aggressive in any manner toward the chicks and got along amazingly well from the start with them, even while they climbed all over her.
Fast forward a month. I was moving them to a better spot for cold weather and thinking of leaving Gertie for a couple more days before bringing her. As I was putting the chicks in the cage to transport, Gertie was circling the cage and appearing extremely worried about them. In other words, she wasn't letting them leave without her. I put her in the cage with them. Again, she sat patiently with the chicks. More and more I'm getting a kick out of the situation, especially knowing that Polish aren't exactly broody to begin with.
It was so cold out that I decided to bring the group in until I get a better setup for young chicks in place. Now, for three mornings in a row, I've walked by to check on everyone in the group and found Gertie with chicks under her wings, on her back, snuggled up to her and generally acting like happy chicks in close vicinity to her. I also have a very spoiled Dominique chick inside with me. She's been recovering from the stress of being moved and now I'm afraid to mover her back into the cold weather, lol. Well, Ethel was going to eat with the "newbs" and Gertie was not having it in any way. Ethel was immediately expelled from the "nest". I find this all laughable because of the situation in which Gertie became a foster hen.
It's also taken me a month to figure out why she hasn't been laying...
