This summer was definitely more prolific than last summer. We had peas, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers grow very well. I canned watermelon pickles. We started our mushroom logs, which we need to try to force fruit soon. We built an in ground fire pit with a stone surround. But the highlight of the summer was the baby chicks!
We had a wyandotte go broody. Usually, we try to break our birds of their broodiness. But this time, we asked if anyone had any fertilized eggs for her to try to hatch. And a good neighbor did!! He brought over a handful of eggs, which he thought would be some kind of Ameraucana mix. The bird was able to successfully hatch out three eggs, and the chicks are all growing up and doing well!
I follow Lisa Steele on social media, and she has shared out her newest book to be released at the beginning of 2018: Let’s Hatch Chicks! an illustrated children’s book where the experience she had with her own chickens hatching and adding babies to the flock.
For awhile, we were concerned that maybe the eggs wouldn’t hatch. The hen had left them and then became trapped away from the eggs, so we thought maybe they had become too cold and had died. We candled them and could sort of tell there was something, so the hen got back to work. It was exciting to watch when they did actually hatch! I had picked up one of the eggs and tapped it, and could hear the ‘peep’ from inside. Soon enough, the chicks were pecking their way out. So cool!
Not all of the eggs did hatch. I think we had six eggs, and three of them hatched… which I consider a wonderous success! Each chick looks a little different: one is a darker grey, with a little bit of barred look to the feathers, one is a gorgeous light brown and grey combination, and the littlest chick is a soft ball of fluffy light grey. I can’t wait to see what they all grow up to look like!
Chicken count: 3 Barred Rock (hens), 4 Rhode Island Red (hens), 3 Golden Laced Wyandotte (hens), 3 chicks, breed unknown
The roo on the left is Copper. The hen is Jane Grey. The roo on the right is Hei Hei.
