Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Baby Chicks!!!


 
This little chick was still wet from hatching when we went out to feed them today. 
 

 One of the chicks (the brown one by the hen's head) appears to be a Speckled Sussex.  All of them have a first generation Easter Egger as a dad.  I love the fluffy yellow butts in the photo below.   The one that just hatched is the small one in the bottom right of the photo by the food bowl.

 
Varigated is such a good brood hen.  She is an Easter Egger.  Her mom was an Orpington.  Her dad was a Americana.  She lays a green egg.  She also hatched chicks last year.  This year I gave her seven eggs (of various breeds).  Five of them hatched so far.  A 71 percent hatch rate from a brood hen is AWESOME!  She really didn't want to leave the other two eggs to take care of her chicks.  I could tell by her chirping that she was getting nervous about feeding the chicks.  She was so happy when I took the eggs from the nest and put them in front of her.  She immediately took the one and slipped it under her.  Since the first chick hatched on Sunday and it's already Tuesday, it's unlikely that the last two will hatch.  I'm going to let them go one more day to see what happens.

 
I'm excited that I finally got our son to hold chicks with a smile on his face.  He was afraid of them for a while because I had a rooster that got a little aggressive a while back.  That rooster is gone now.  It was not a friendly environment for the flock or our son.  Our son wanted me to pose with the newest chick first so here it is:
 

No comments: