When last we left our heroine, Juanita the Incredibly Broody Hen, she had been a couple months without even eggs to brood, but had been determinedly trying to incubate the straw in the nest box for nearly two months.
Then we got Sophie, our rescue hen, someone's precious cutie who was found wandering the streets, apparently undeterred by substantially clipped wing feathers. Sophie is a little trooper, producing an egg a day. And Juanita, poor barren broody, suddenly realized the straw was producing eggs, and she could steal eggs to set on. I kept diligently removing eggs, but she would always hop on them when she could. Finally, realizing chicks were coming soon, I started letting her keep a couple for a few days, since she was bound and determined to hatch something.
Well, our little peeping package of five girlies from My Pet Chicken arrived on Tuesday. And I started removing eggs, one by one, and substituting chickies. The look on Juanita's face can only be described as wonderment. She fluffed herself out and started peering under her wings in amazement. The eggs, the eggs! The straw had turned to eggs, and now the eggs had turned into chicks! She was in ecstasy! None the worse for their long trip across the continent, the five little girls realized that finally, they had come home to mommy, and everyone turned into a picture of domestic bliss, with Juanita spreading herself wide over five blissful chickies, and alternating motherly clucks with what can only be described as purring. That first day, whenever anyone tumbled out to explore, she determinedly packed them right back under her feathers to keep them warm. Looks like we didn't need the heat lamp, after all.
I educated them on the basics of drinking, but yesterday, she took up showing them how to eat. I gave them a dish of chick food, with some sunflower seeds in it for mom, which she ate avidly, while the chicks wandered around in the dish. She then scooped up some chick mix in her beak and called them to come get it, and let them eat out of her beak, then pecked at the food dish, then let them eat from her beak again, then pecked, until they were pecking at the food dish. I'd never seen this behavior before! I thought they just followed mom's example and pecked at food, rather than being fed and shown where the food came from. Today, it was the expedition to the Other Side of the Chicken Box, with its view of the outside world, seen through bars separating my little family from the two ladies in the outside run. Clarisse, my bull dyke hen, who's been lately happily playing rooster and canoodling Sophie, peered into the grate, and was greeted with a chilling sound much better suited to one of my cats. She backed off. That was one threatening chicken, in there with her chicks! If there was ever a contented hen, though, it's Juanita. She has fulfilled her destiny and become a Mama Hen, and is taking careful care of "her" chicks.
I think think she's going to be a fantastic mother to them. Photos to follow, when I can get some in more light than is in the nest box. They're such a charming little family.
Then we got Sophie, our rescue hen, someone's precious cutie who was found wandering the streets, apparently undeterred by substantially clipped wing feathers. Sophie is a little trooper, producing an egg a day. And Juanita, poor barren broody, suddenly realized the straw was producing eggs, and she could steal eggs to set on. I kept diligently removing eggs, but she would always hop on them when she could. Finally, realizing chicks were coming soon, I started letting her keep a couple for a few days, since she was bound and determined to hatch something.
Well, our little peeping package of five girlies from My Pet Chicken arrived on Tuesday. And I started removing eggs, one by one, and substituting chickies. The look on Juanita's face can only be described as wonderment. She fluffed herself out and started peering under her wings in amazement. The eggs, the eggs! The straw had turned to eggs, and now the eggs had turned into chicks! She was in ecstasy! None the worse for their long trip across the continent, the five little girls realized that finally, they had come home to mommy, and everyone turned into a picture of domestic bliss, with Juanita spreading herself wide over five blissful chickies, and alternating motherly clucks with what can only be described as purring. That first day, whenever anyone tumbled out to explore, she determinedly packed them right back under her feathers to keep them warm. Looks like we didn't need the heat lamp, after all.
I educated them on the basics of drinking, but yesterday, she took up showing them how to eat. I gave them a dish of chick food, with some sunflower seeds in it for mom, which she ate avidly, while the chicks wandered around in the dish. She then scooped up some chick mix in her beak and called them to come get it, and let them eat out of her beak, then pecked at the food dish, then let them eat from her beak again, then pecked, until they were pecking at the food dish. I'd never seen this behavior before! I thought they just followed mom's example and pecked at food, rather than being fed and shown where the food came from. Today, it was the expedition to the Other Side of the Chicken Box, with its view of the outside world, seen through bars separating my little family from the two ladies in the outside run. Clarisse, my bull dyke hen, who's been lately happily playing rooster and canoodling Sophie, peered into the grate, and was greeted with a chilling sound much better suited to one of my cats. She backed off. That was one threatening chicken, in there with her chicks! If there was ever a contented hen, though, it's Juanita. She has fulfilled her destiny and become a Mama Hen, and is taking careful care of "her" chicks.
I think think she's going to be a fantastic mother to them. Photos to follow, when I can get some in more light than is in the nest box. They're such a charming little family.
