Monday, September 17, 2012

The saga continues...

One never knows quite what to expect when they wake up on their birthday... will you feel older? Will you not even remember? Will the day go by unnoticed?

Well, my birthday got off to quite a start and it's only 9am! lol 

I knew that the chicks would be due around my birthday, but we've had really nice warm weather so we thought they might be born a bit early so we went to check them yesterday afternoon before we left on our bike ride. Two of the eggs were pipping! Well, our short ride turned in to a long ride (12 miles!! An amazing feet for an 8 year old!) dinner and stop at JoAnn's to get stocked up on more colors for the shop. SO... we didn't get home until late and it was too dark to check on the chicks...



So I went out this morning, gave the chickens a treat, dropped the door and went to open the door to the coop and heard cheeping!! What a wonderful feeling it is to hear that sound!! I was so nervous that something would have happened to them over night so it really was music to my ears!! 


 I had thought ahead to bring the camera with me this time. The hen seemed to be fine, I was taking pictures and watching the chick when I reached over to lift her wing and see how many there were... and it all went so very wrong from there...she proceeded to attack the little brown one. I thought maybe she was just being protective but she was relentless and I had trouble getting it away from her... and when I did, she stood up and started attacking the next one...It was terrible and something I wish I could forget!!! I thank God I went out before the girls were awake!! !! These are the pictures to follow their rescue....
 I ended up waking J up and asking her to snuggle them warm in bed while I got something made up to hold them...Luckily the blankets were still nice and warm from her sleeping... but now I have more laundry to work on today! lol
 This little gal took the brunt of the attack... she seems to be doing good but she has a bloody spot about the size of a dime from where she was attacked... I'm sure she'll be getting babied today!! 

As for that broody black chicken? She never even got a name (she was intended for dinner!) and now I know why! To the soup pot she will still go!Now I'm off to go steal her last egg... the incubator will be a safer place for it now... I've had enough of a twisted scene from a mutant animal horror movie to last many birthdays to come! lol The day can only get better right?! :)

This will definitely be a birthday to remember! :) I'll show pictures of my wonderful birthday weekend later... gotta go get that egg to safety! :)

The Chicken Chick

4 comments:

sista said...

Unbelievable. I have never had a hen do that and I have had lots of them hatch out chicks and or foster some from the feed store. Weird. Glad you were there to rescue them. She must have thought they were interlopers in her nest. If you have another broody or a broody silky they may just take those babies.

Tami said...

Happy Birthday, what a wonderful surprise...they are all so cute!! Stopping by via The Chicken Chick.

Designs By Kelin said...

In from The Chicken Chick - It was a nice birthday present to see the chicks but the mean hen... I hope I don't have to witness that.... ever!

Good luck with the chicks and by the way Happy Birthday!

Kathy Shea Mormino, The Chicken Chick said...

Thank you for linking up at The Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week!

I know exactly what you went through as we have had broodies turn on chicks more than once or twice. I don't know why they do it, but it's horrific. I'm glad you were able to intercede just in time. The photos of your little one with the baby chick are precious!

I hope to see you back on Monday for the next Clever Chicks link party!

Cheers,
Kathy
The Chicken Chick