A Little Story from the Coop

Chickens are fascinating creatures - at least I think so.

You may recall from a previous post that we have a broody hen.  The first week went as usual and she stoically rested on those eggs, puffing up and glaring indignantly when I entered the room to replenish the food and water for her and for the chicks that also populate the room.  All was going just fine until Friday morning chores.  When I entered the room and added some feed to the feeders, she got off the nest and began clucking to the chicks ... for those of you who may not be that familiar with hens, they have a certain way of talking to their young.  The chicks were terrified and began racing round the room while she followed like she was trying to round them up and get them to listen... chaos! 

Now I was worried.  Would she go back to her nest, or had she abandoned it for these chicks?  Should I take the eggs and fire up the incubator, or just let nature take it's course?  Well, I needed to get to work, so I left the eggs to their fate. 

Back at home in the evening- all was fine.  She was back on the nest - but then hopped off again and the scene of the morning was repeated.   Now Sunday evening, the situation is pretty much the same except instead of all of the chicks being terrified when she gets off the nest, two of them have decided she is their mom and hang out with her and one even climbs right in the nest with her.

So now I should really have a picture of the hen and the chicks for you... but I don't.  I just can't get a decent picture in the low light of that room so goat pictures will have to suffice for this week!

Here's Violet!  Such a pretty little thing!

If you scroll down to last week's  post and look at the picture of Ranger, you will see that his scurs (quasi horns) have really grown.  It was time for a trim so today we tackled that.  Usually we trim them with a hacksaw but this is really hard work for the guy doing the sawing and takes a while making it an even more unpleasant experience for Ranger.  This time Kevin used the sawzall and it went quite well.  Still unpleasant but much faster!  Here is the after picture - yep, a little blood but not anything to worry about.  He is just fine.

That's quite enough for this week I think - I am not sure if there will be good news from the coop next week or not - if the eggs are going to hatch, it should be Saturday or Sunday I would think.  Until then, be well friends.