Ruth's third and final egg hatched today. A cute little silver chick - I'm guessing will look like her mommy.
Here's my Ruth's three babies.
I'm so happy to finally have fertile eggs and be able to hatch from my own flock. It's make it even more special. And adding to that is the fact that my little twisted neck, special needs, Ruth is the first mommy of the flock. I wish she knew. Maybe I'll show her the chicks and see if some internal thing clicks and she recoginzes them as her own.
Ruth's babies just had their 4 week birthday. They have been freeranging since 1 week old.
Here's the mama who doesn't know she's the mama - Ruth. Notice how bare back she is from being so popular. I'm letting her and the other more popular girls stay in coop and run area away from roos so their feathers can grow back.
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The thought did cross my mind and I was prepared and have been watching them carefully. If you notice in the pic of Ruth posted above, her neck and tail both curve when she's eating. She didn't have a crooked neck till about 4 weeks old but she did have something wrong with her from the get go. She walked with her head pulled into her body, sort of tip toed very timid, and stayed in background while the others acted like little sharks on a feeding frenzy. So I'm thinking she had a vitamin deficiency from day one and I didn't notice how bad it was till she "died" - was found lifeless on coop floor being trampled by others. Though she recovered after several weeks of therapy her neck still goes crooked when she bends to eat and it took her months to grow a tail and it does the same thing. So she could have a genetic curvature or a permanent disfigurement or something - I've been watching for either in her babies but so far they seem healthy and very active - not a timid, quiet one in the bunch. Plus I let them freerange and now feed all chicks Poly-Vi-Sol the first week, scrambled egg almost daily, and lots of good foods in addition to free ranging.