On Thursday the "Most Annoying Hen on Earth" aka Sponge, managed to hatch a chick. Instead of, you know, mothering it, she decides to remain seated on the nest as the little grey lint ball makes it's way out of the coop and ends up in the mud. I hear the distinctive sound of a very upset chick and rush out to find Smudge. I attempt to give it back to her and she gives it a WTH? look and pecks it.
So I take it inside and put it in the brooder.
Fast forward to this morning and I AGAIN hear peeping. This time the baby has managed to get itself stuck between Sponge's wing and her body. She is ignoring it as it cheeps it's head off. I rescue this one and add it to the brooder with Smudge. Being creative, I name it Smidge. They both look a like.
Sponge has shown no sign that she misses the chicks. She hasn't looked for them nor has she stopped sitting on the nest. Yeah, guess who gets to live in a rooster free coop from now on.
Tomorrow I'm going to go pick up two more chicks (Buff Orpingtons) just to be on the safe side. Twenty four hours worth of playing Mother Hen to a single, lonely chick, got old quickly. Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep and it only got louder if I left the room! I could hear the barely 2oz ball of lint across the house!
Sponge is a grey Silkie and the dad is a Barred Rock.
Fast forward to this morning and I AGAIN hear peeping. This time the baby has managed to get itself stuck between Sponge's wing and her body. She is ignoring it as it cheeps it's head off. I rescue this one and add it to the brooder with Smudge. Being creative, I name it Smidge. They both look a like.
Sponge has shown no sign that she misses the chicks. She hasn't looked for them nor has she stopped sitting on the nest. Yeah, guess who gets to live in a rooster free coop from now on.
Tomorrow I'm going to go pick up two more chicks (Buff Orpingtons) just to be on the safe side. Twenty four hours worth of playing Mother Hen to a single, lonely chick, got old quickly. Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep and it only got louder if I left the room! I could hear the barely 2oz ball of lint across the house!
Sponge is a grey Silkie and the dad is a Barred Rock.
