Broody chicken was faithful to her eggs and she sat for many days keeping them toasty warm. Daughter-in-law fixed up a safe, quiet place in the loft of the barn where she could sit in peace. Hatching time is normally 21 days, but this hen sat longer because DIL switched out a group of non-viable eggs (because of the hard freeze we had) that she had already been sitting on for a few days, for eggs that had a better chance of developing.
She started with eight eggs. Only two hatched. A couple of them got squashed along the way and the hen abandoned the last two after the first two hatched.
Little puff is learning to drink. DIL stuck it's beak in the water to help it learn. It must have been pretty thirsty because it took several drinks.
Momma hen is teaching them to scratch and peck. They watch her closely and do whatever she does, and they run under her body for warmth or safety.
It's been fun watching them.
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2 comments:
And here I was thinking 25% hatch rate was mostly a fail. I guess it can be considered successful since it yielded two adorable little chicks. :-)
Absolutely! They are so cute and it's fun to watch them mimic their mother.
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