Tuffnut and Hiccup

[RebeccaBoyd]

I posted pictures of toothless yesterday and this morning I managed to get some pictures of his siblings Tuffnut and Hiccup. Of course out of 5 chicks that hatched, 2 were lost to a raccoon and of the 3 survivors 2 of them ended up being Roo's. Right now they get along but if the boy's need to be separated then I will rehome Tuff. The last photo is momma the stray hen who started my daughters love of chickens. She proved to be a excellent mother who was fiercely protective of her babies for 4 months and as soon as they hit 5 months old decided it was time to go back broody again. No more babies for her this year though as winter will soon be here but thinking next year if she is determined to be a mother instead of letting her hatch another batch will try and let her adopt a few from rural king.

 

[sourland]

That's a very striking cockerel. There's a lot of game DNA in those birds.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Thank you Sourland, secretly Tuff is my favorite. As far as the game dna, the babies are not actually Momma's we just had a friend give us some fertile eggs. My daughter's best friend lived next door to her so she dropped off the eggs. I have never personally saw her flock. I was told that she had a mixture of big stock chickens and some easter eggers. Now my daughters friend, her dad also raises chickens and had offered to give us some eggs as well but his chickens are game chickens and I really didn't want potentially aggressive birds so declined. Looking at tuffnut, I've wondered if he didn't sneak a egg or two in there or if one of his rooster's got in with his neighbors hens where the eggs came from. Momma is a stray game hen that took up at the barn. She is at least coming on 5 years old as people who used to run the horse shows there would have a chicken chase during intermission for the kids. I worked the concession at the time and didn't agree with it but oh well. Momma was one of the chickens that was brought for this and when she was realeased she proved how smart she was, instead of running around letting the kids try to catch her, she flew up into the hill behind the barn and remained impossible to catch. After about a year she started showing back up but wouldn't let you get within 30 feet of her without her flying away. It has taken almost 3 years of persistence but my daughter has managed to somewhat tame her. She will now come up and eat out of your hand. She has lost the toes on one of her feet but other then a limp when she runs she acts perfectly normal.

 

[drumstick diva]

Momma is a free spirit, long may roam

 

[AsaDotJava]

What beautiful birds, all of them! Such a lovely variety.

I love Momma hen's story! What a champ she is!