Hens and chicks

I had a surprise waiting for me Friday night when I got home.

A nice surprise.

When I ventured outside to do chores, I found a baby chick in the hen house. One lonely baby chick. And I'm tickled to death!

During the last week of July, Andy mentioned that we had a broody hen and he couldn't get her out of the nesting box. We've had "broody" hens before, and have usually been able to get them off the eggs. Then, we'd gather the eggs and eat 'em. That's what we have chickens for, to eat farm fresh eggs. Today's chickens have had the "broodiness" bred out of them, in other words, we've bred out the pro-creation instinct in most of our chickens. They'll lay eggs, but not want to set a nest and hatch chicks. That means, of course, more eggs for us to eat.

Over the years, we've had 2-3 hens go broody. One sat a nest in the stock trailer, up in the feed bunk area. She had 12-14 eggs there and sat on them until one day, she just simply vanished. We think she became some one's lunch. So, we tossed those eggs far, far away. She was our last broody hen. Until this past month.

This hen decided to take up nesting in a nesting box, which is made to lay eggs in. Smart chicken. She was near water and food, her nest was safe from predators. But chickens aren't supposed to go broody in the late summer, so I really didn't expect any viable results from her broodiness. I anticipated that at some point, we'd have to throw away some eggs. But, since she was rather feisty and resistant to any bribes to forced removal from the nest, we left her alone.

Last Thursday evening, young master Tate came over to help with chores. Tate decided to gather eggs for me, a chore he doesn't usually do. He came running in the house with 16 eggs and was so thrilled. He handed me the eggs and said "I got them out of all the nests and there were 16 eggs!"

My brain stopped at the words "...all the nests."

"Tate," I said, "did you mean all the nests, even the one with that big hen sitting in it?"

"There wasn't any hen in any nest."

Uh-oh.

Kim, Tate's mother, and I looked at each other, because she knew we had a broody hen. So, we grabbed a flashlight and started candling eggs.

Candling eggs is when you shine a bright light through the eggshell to see if it's opaque or semi-transparent. An egg with developing chicks will appear solid. Fresh eggs, those that haven't been sat on are lighter and less opaque, you can see the light through the egg and the shape of the yolk. We knew the hen had been sitting on three eggs. We found three opaque eggs that were heavier and warmer than the rest. We sorted our three eggs that we really really hoped were the right ones, and Tate ran them back out to the nest. I know that Kim and I really didn't expect anything viable, we just wanted to make sure we gave the hen some time and we definitely didn't want to crack an egg and find an almost-mature chick in it.

Somehow, that just ruins your appetite....

Then Friday, I found a chick. A live, healthy chick on the ground. A chick who's momma was very protective of it, a chick who's momma was being a good momma and keeping everyone else away. A momma who would set on her little one to keep it warm and who would show it what to eat and where to drink.

I helped. I got out chick feed and got fresh water in a smaller waterer and put both in easy reach of the chick. Then, I sat back and watched.I spent several hours this weekend watching Momma and baby. I've also been spoiling them. Momma hen and baby get fresh cucumbers broken up and placed wherever they are. Momma hen and baby get extra scratch grain tossed in front of them. Momma hen and baby get chick starter tossed to them.

I've never seen a hen with chicks. It's been so fun watching Momma teach her baby and protect her baby. And I'm just tickled and thrilled to death. I hope this baby lives a long and healthy life. I hope that Momma tries to hatch more chicks in the spring.

Congratulations Momma hen.