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New Life

April 29th, 2014

Miss Broody finally has a few babies. Last Friday morning I noticed a little chick in the nesting box when I checked on her. Sadly, there was one that hadn’t made it through the hatching process as well.
broody hen and chicks 1
I checked on her on Saturday morning and there were a few more chicks and a couple more in the process of hatching out. Monday morning I moved them from the tiny nesting box into a small brooder in the chicken coop with food, water and a small heat lamp.
broody hen and chicks 2
It will be interesting to watch these little ones grow up to see what they look like. Some of them should be Wyandottes, some of the will be barnyard mixes, no doubt they’ll all be just as great as their parents!
broody hen and chicks 3
Miss Broody went right to work showing her babies how to scratch around in the litter, drink from their water bowl and eat the food I provided for them. I wanted to put them outside but it was very cold and rather windy. If they could easily navigate in and out of the coop I would have let her simply take them wherever she wanted, but our coop is not accessible to little birdies, that’s something we’re hoping to work on. There are also lots of layers of chicken wire installed by the previous owner and it is kind of a land mine for little ones.
broody hen and chicks 4
In the future we hope to have a new coop with a dedicated brooding area for mama birds to hatch out their young and it will have a dedicate run area attached to it for safe outdoor fun for little babies. Until then, we’ll make do with what we have, which probably means carrying them outside into a fenced in area and then carrying them back in at night. It will be well worth the effort in the health benefits it will provide for the little ones.

Any wonderful things happening in your house/garden/coop?

9 Comments to “New Life”
  1. daisy on April 29, 2014 at 5:42 am

    What a fabulous way to greet spring! Momma looks like she is doing a great job with her babies. How sweet!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  2. Laura @ Raise Your Garden on April 29, 2014 at 6:50 am

    Hello!

    Congrats on the chicks! Too cute =) Wish we could have chickens but they’re not allowed in the burbs where I live. Strictly banned!

    Our big project has been to clean out the basement. Maybe this doesn’t sound like much to most people, but for us….it’s a landmark achievement. Kind of like graduating from college and grad school. It was that bad.

    As a bonus, my MIL helped me for my Christmas gift. She has also started on the garage. Hey, I can take a hint! I’m messy and I know it =)

    Reply to Laura @ Raise Your Garden's comment

  3. Nebraska Dave on April 29, 2014 at 8:37 am

    Susy, good morning to you. Lovely gentle rain falling outside this morning. The earthy smell is wonderful. I’m just enjoying the awesome Spring rain. The rain water storage tank’s water level should on the way to filling the tank. It’s over half full and (yippie) no leaks yet this year. If you can remember I hit the spigot with the lawn mower last year and well caused a major repair to happen. So there’s no big project going on today. Just smelling the roses.

    Have a great watching new life chicks day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  4. Jennifer Fisk on April 29, 2014 at 9:30 am

    I just love naturally hatched chicks and their Mom’s. You really don’t need a heat lamp on these birds. Mom will provide exactly what they need when they need it. I would move them to a pen with little house. She’ll show them how to forage, how to eat what you provide, how to drink etc. When they get too cold she’ll go into the little house and brood them.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

    • Susy on April 29, 2014 at 10:58 pm

      We have plans to make a little house, just no time yet. I’ll be putting them outside tomorrow. I gave them a lamp b/c I wasn’t sure how great of a mom our miss broody would be, turns out she’s doing great!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  5. DebbieB on April 29, 2014 at 9:34 am

    They’re so cute! I can’t wait to see the chicks running around in the park – right now, I just hear the peeping coming from the hedges, the mamas are keeping them safely inside until they’re bigger, I imagine.

    Reply to DebbieB's comment

  6. Maybelline on April 29, 2014 at 1:46 pm

    Darling.
    Do you chickens take on rodents?

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

    • Maybelline on April 29, 2014 at 1:47 pm

      YOUR chickens. Geez! This typo is a constant problem I have. Sorry.

      Reply to Maybelline's comment

      • Susy on April 29, 2014 at 10:56 pm

        I see them eating moles/voles that the cats catch and leave around. We haven’t seen them actively catch any rodents. I have watched a chicken catch a snake and eat it though!

        to Susy's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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