Sunday, December 28, 2014
Christmas chicks
A lovely present on Christmas day: the sight of two mother hens outside in the sunshine fussing over the four little chicks that hatched. It's hard to spot them, as they tend to disappear under the hen as we approach. A lot of the eggs did not hatch, and one chick died trying to get out of the shell, but we are still happy to have four healthy chicks being cared for by the hens and out free ranging. It's one thing to see them hatch in our incubator; quite another to see it done how it should be. Super cute. Last night they took themselves off into the bush and slept the night out there, but all still there in the morning - so far so good.
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That is so cute - those barnevelder mamas sharing the parenting. They rarely go broody but when they do they make wonderful mothers. Well done!
ReplyDeleteOne of the lovely things Michelle is that the darker hen is one of the older original girls we've had for about 4 years. She was injured in a quoll attack and happily survived. The orange one is one of last year's chicks. So it's like mama and grandmama!
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