Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

Buff Orpingtons, Chickens, Chicks, Jersey Giant, Reflections

Here in the U.S. Sunday, May 12, was Mother’s Day. It is also the day our two broody hens became mothers.

On Sunday we had four out of ten eggs hatch. We found three under the Jersey Giant and one under the Buff Orpington.

Oddly enough the three Buff Orpington chicks were under the Jersey Giant and the Jersey chick was under the Buff hen.

We waited until Tuesday morning but when none of the other eggs hatched my husband disposed of them. I will admit that we were a bit disappointed that we only had four chicks hatch.

The two hens are raising the chicks together, but it does seem like the Jersey hen is taking on more of the mothering role, teaching the chicks how to peck and scratch. The Buff stays nearby and definitely helps protect the chicks.

Today, Thursday, was their first day out of the coop.

Sometimes it seems like other hens are helping with the chicks as well.

At one point when Ranger decided the check out the babies. Both momma’s, several other hens and the rooster let him know that he was not welcome. They squawked and flew at him to chase him away. After being chased off again today Ranger has decided it’s best to avoid the group.

On Saturday we gave one of the other hens 5 eggs to sit on. This hen is so determined to brood. She has been sitting on a nest for about three weeks and each day my husband takes one or two eggs out from underneath her, trying to break her broodiness. It hasn’t worked. She just sits on her nest in the corner all day and hisses or squawks when he takes the eggs from her. After my husband gave her the 5 eggs she made some very happy clucking noises. So, in a few weeks we might have more babies (and more cute pictures). But we won’t count our chickens before they hatch.

Thanks for visiting.

14 thoughts on “Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch”

  5. They are so tiny and cute but it amazes me their huge feet for such tiny beings. So Ranger was disappointed that his help was not wanted like last time … poor Ranger. I hope it works out better for the rest.

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    1. It really amazes me to see the two hens working together. So far the two hens and four chicks are doing everything as a group. So cute! They do make better momma then Ranger. 🙂

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  6. Congratulations, Baby chicks are one of the cutest things on earth. I can remember Randy’s mom and grandma candling the eggs with a flashlight to see if chicks were forming. Its pretty cool to see. Good luck to the remaining miss broody, her determination deserves to be rewarded with some chicks 🐥

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    1. Yes! They are adorable. We could have candled but not sure that it would have made a difference because if we took the eggs away from those hens early because they weren’t developing the hens would have kept collecting more eggs. If they were developing but didn’t hatch we would have just felt sad. I tend to think we are better off not knowing.

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