Broody Pullets & Babies, cont.

The Australorp had been sitting two eggs and because she was in the coop, where she was often made to share her nest with her flockmates, I had my doubts about whether her eggs would in fact hatch. I really didn't think they would.

It just goes to show you what I know. Over the weekend BOTH eggs hatched and both babies seem to be doing really well. Once the first chick hatched and the second egg was pipping, I moved her into her own nest in a cage in the coop, moved her baby and the pipping egg in with her, covered the cage with a tarp to give her some privacy and she has seemed perfectly content. The second egg hatched overnight and she has two adorable babies.

The Buff Orpington mama has moved to a temporary coop in a screened off part of the run, where she has been showing her babies how to scratch around and find food. They have a feeder and waterer in the run, but she routinely knocks the feed over and shows the chicks how to scratch the earth and eat their food from the ground. Sometimes she'll drop feed in front of them. They seem fine; drinking and eating the way she wants them to, so for now I'm leaving her to her time-tested methods.

Our Broody Did It!

I thought I heard chirping and some slight movement under the Buff Orpington broody yesterday, but couldn't be certain. Today I KNEW I heard something, so I opened the cage, gently moved aside one protective wing (although she growled a little, she allowed me to take the liberty), and -- she did it! Nestled underneath her was a precious tiny baby! I saw the flattened, empty eggshell first and thought oh no, maybe she broke it, but she has been such a good and careful mama -- no way would she have simply stepped on her eggs.

Here is a really bad photo of the baby, a tiny black chick. She probably hatched an Australorp egg! I didn't want to disturb her; I'll try to get better pictures later.

She did great! Here she is, tucking her little one back under her. You can see the empty eggshell right in front of her.

More later!

Much better photo of the new addition (any guesses? Australorp cross? Wyandotte? Barred Rock?).

ETA: A second chick hatched sometime during the afternoon. This one has some buff coloring on her face and is extremely tiny - I hope she makes it. As of this evening, the broody was sitting tight on two babies and one unhatched egg.