Chickens coming out our ears.......(pictures)

Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 01:25

Well, all I can say is such is the homestead life.  It is definitely spring around here.  We got baby chicks March 19th from the Seed and Feed.  I posted pictures here.  We got 10 to eventually add into our current flock of 10.  They are now 5 weeks old:

We have moved them out to our brooder box.  It is amazing how much they grow in 5 wks.  We hope to move them to the chicken coop when they are 3 months old. 

Now for our newest additions..........

About a month ago, right after we got the baby chicks, ofcourse, we had 3 hens who were being verrrryyyy broody.  We have never done this before but we decided to let one hen set on 6 eggs.  Then a week later we let another set on 6 or 7 eggs and then 2 wks. later we let another set on 8 or 9.  Here are 2 of them setting.

We don't know what kind of chicken this one is but she has feathered feet.  She is one of 3 of our mixed breeds.  All 3 of the mixed breeds are the broody ones.  Strange Huh!!!

This is the other one.  If you know what kind she is we would love to know.  She and 1 other were here when we moved here.  She lays a smaller white egg.  She is also a little smaller than my other chickens.  She is a great egg layer and now broody.  What more could you ask for. 

The other chicken that looks like the previous one was the first to set and Saturday look at what she did:

She hatched 5 of the cutest chicks.  She hatched 5 out of 6 eggs.  Our 1 Auracauna rooster must really be doing a good job.  They are all Auracauna crosses.  The darkest one is full blooded Auracauna.  So I now have baby chicks in my bathroom again under a light.  If we have the same rate of hatching we will end up with 25 baby chicks this season.  I know probably more than half will be roosters, which will be great for my freezer. 

Well, thanks for looking.

Blessings,

Trixi

Untitled Comment

Posted by Marseeya on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 02:52 - Link

Yeah! Babies! This is a strange request, but I noticed your Hen house, is it portable. Is there anyway you could post or send a picture of it? I am looking at different ones and yours looked interesting.
Marcia

Untitled Comment

Posted by haflinger on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 03:45 - Link

Great looking hens and they look happy.. Those chicks are cute.. Could the small one be a fancy batam? We had our batams with feathers on the feet and on top of the head..
We are down to two layers out of 45 in the last week they got wiped out.. We think it was fox.
Blessings Sister Brenda

Wow!

Posted by leighannwhitten on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 04:19 - Link

How exciting. I'm hoping that next year I'll end up with broody hens myself. Homesteading is such a blessing isn't it?!
Blessings,
Leigh-Ann

Untitled Comment

Posted by kdbspace on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 10:47 - Link

cute chicks! I just love getting to hatch peeps!

have fun

Posted by blessingsbaound on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 08:34 - Link

Have fun! I just love chickens!!! Talk to you more soon! Love, Mrs. Joseph Wood

I enjoyed your blog today!

Posted by lancelotacres on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 01:18 - Link

I just wanted to let you know that I loved reading your blog today.

My guess is that you have a banty-mix chicken with the feathers on her feet. They are called booted banties but there are several different breeds of them. I'll bet the other mixed breeds that are broody are also part banty (maybe not the booted variety). Banties make the best mamas! They lay very well and they raise their babies better than any chicken I've ever seen. We always just let the mamas raise their babies. We do put them in a chicken tractor or other pen so that stray dogs, cats and misc other varmints don't get them though. Mama is fierce and can fight off the barn cat, but the neighbor's dog is a bit much for her.

This is how I hatch the eggs I'd like for chicks. I'll choose the bigger eggs for future meat chickens and smaller eggs for more banty mamas.

I have also slipped baby chicks from the feed store under a new mama, if the babies are close in size, and she's raised them right along her own. It's best to do the sliparoo at night when she's sleeping and then watch close in the morning, as it doesn't always work :)

Hugs,
Lisa

Edited by lancelotacres on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 01:29

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