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| Momma Maran with one of her tiny babies poking out. |
Well, a lot has happened in chicken land this spring.
Two hens went broody in April. That is, they took up residence in the nesting areas, but stopped laying. I moved one momma and a clutch of eggs to our other shed, and strongly "encouraged" the other to get back to normal life.
Momma chicken proceeded to sit on the eggs (some hers, most laid by others) for twenty-two days. At day twenty-one, with much excitement, hubby lifted her up and found three littles under her. One more baby hatched the following day. It was a bummer that only four out of twelve eggs hatched, but as a new mother, I think she did well enough.
Momma chicken would continue to sit and keep her babies warm, but after a few days, they were out and about in the warmer weather, and we let them out of the shed to experience the green grass. This was pretty much the cutest thing imaginable - momma with her four littles around, pecking and digging in the dirt and grass.
Things were quite lovely until the chicks were just a little over a week old.
Then one morning as hubby and I were getting ready for work, I looked out the window to see a neighbor dog next to the coop.
I blasted out of the house, but half of our flock was already dead, with their necks broken by this failed duck hunting dog.
Momma chicken, her sister Maran, the two Easter Eggers and our handsome and valiant rooster were all gone.
It was utterly heartbreaking to listen to our four little orphans peep and cheep away, calling for a mother that could never come to them again.
We alerted the neighbor, who had only moved in a few months earlier, and she and her daughter helped to round up the dog. They were also able to see the damage their pet had done to ours.
Luckily for us, the neighbor did feel awful about the situation (I have heard that this is not a given) and brought us some chicks breeds similar to those that we had lost.
So, a bittersweet result of the day was that we had ten baby chicks to watch grow up. They are all doing well, despite their traumatic early days.
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| Our four originals, and their new friends. |
We knew free ranging chickens was a bit of a gamble, and tried desperately to think of a good solution to our predicament. The neighbor said that they would mind their dogs better, but we are also much more careful about when we let our chickens out. It is very hard to fence and cage chickens that know life as a free-range chicken. We are working on this balance now.
Farm life is sunshine and roses quite frequently, but there are also some major reality check moments like these.
