I did not get a picture of all three hens in one nesting box, but that is what I came home to when returning from my trip out west. I am excited to share my trip, but that is for other posts. They had been setting approximately a week when I returned on August 29th. I have been rather impatient checking under the hens. If one left the nest another one would gently use her beak to pull the exposed eggs under her.
Sunday morning at feeding time I found a lone Silver Gray Dorking chick out with the adults birds. I placed the chick back in with the setting hens after offering it a drink. I knew I needed to set up a pen for the coming chicks but was still working out ideas in my head. There was only one chick so far. It was going to need a momma and access to water and chick starter.
This is what I came up with. I pulled out the closest broody hen and placed in the cage with the little chick. The chick could get out of the cage, but I was hoping with time it would bond with the hen and remember where the food and water was located. I was confident the adult birds would be kind should it wonder out of reach of Momma hen. Earlier on Sunday I observed the chick had left the broody nest (again) and was following one of the roosters around. The rooster was talking to the little chick! My heart loved that!
Yesterday, as in Tue, two days after the first chick had hatched I was being nosey again and found that a chick had piped under the die hard broody hen. I still have two hens broody but one is definitely more dedicated to her position. I was excited and impatient. I know it is best to allow nature to run its course. I have had enough heart ache to last me for quite some time and I was looking for some positives around here to ease my broken heart. More on that in another post. Last night, at last, I felt the tiny legs of a chick under broody momma.
This morning I removed it from the broody nest and gave it to momma hen. Kind of like natures version of an incubator and a heat lamp when I am presented with 3 broody hens. Oh yes, I have tried moving the hens to other boxes and giving them other eggs. They left them. Perhaps, if I placed them in a separate cage I would improve the outcome.
I never get tired of watching babies. Check out this video.
Lovely!
Thank you!