New Peeps Are Here!

I have a young bantam Lavender Ameraucana in my chicken flock.  I had only had her for a few months when she went broody.  We decided to let her have a shot at it.  We saved up the eggs that the three bantam hens were laying and then gave them to her all on the same day when she started to sit.  I watch them VERY closely since I am at home a lot. So I was able to see that she was not down doing her usual grazing in the bottom of the chicken tractor and she was ready for the eggs.  This is a pic of her.  Her name is "Misty", so named by the kids because of her color.  She lays a lovely light blue colored egg.  She is a very docile and sweet hen.

 

This is the nest box where she started out sitting on the eggs we gave her.  The eggs were from the 3 hens that live in "The Egg Hut" with their hut-mate a Silkie Rooster named "Pouf"(his name really should be "Big Sexy" because of his sass and fancy pants attitude!  Lol!) So "Pouf" is the daddy to all the chicks!  All three hens are different breeds.  There is "Misty" the Lavender Am, "Frizz" a white Cochin Frizzle and "Pepper" a Blue Silkie.  So while we do have some mix bred chickens there are also pure bred Silkies.  Mix breeds are fine though for laying eggs for us to eat.  They can actually be very hardy from mixing the different kind of genetics.  Of course they would never be an award winning pure breed, but that isn't our purpose here anyway.  We love our chickens and we love our eggs. 

Since this was "Misty's" first time being a mom I was pretty concerned and watched her very closely.  I have read many stories about hens that just did not follow through on the job.  Hatching takes 21 days for chickens.  The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to move the new mom and nest to a new location for safety reasons.  For one the nesting area where they lay eggs is up on the second floor of the "Egg Hut".  I do NOT believe it would have been safe at all for her hatch babies up there.  Secondly I had no idea how the other hens and rooster would react to the babies.  I didn't want to take a chance on them hurting the chicks.  So late in the incubation we moved her one evening to the greenhouse.  I just gently placed my sweater over top of her, nest box and all. We took her to a large cage that was set up for her in the greenhouse.  We moved her at dusk to lessen any disturbance to the hen.  Hatching began to happen about 8 hrs after we expected it.  Hatching occurred over about a 48 hr period.  9 fuzzy butts in all by the end.  Here is "Misty" with her first 2 hatchlings.  She was still keeping the rest of the eggs nice and warm.

 

All 9 of the babies right after they all got warmed and fluffed up.  The 2 black chicks are Cochin/Silkie. 2 Lavender Am/Silkie and the other 5 are pure Silkie.  I would have not added the Cochin/Silkie eggs to the nest in the beginning if I would have been able to tell the difference between her eggs and the Silkie hens eggs.  But truly they look exactly the same color and shape!  I am glad that we have more pure Silkies than the mixed though. 

 

 

There is nothing like a nice feather pillow after all that hard work getting out of the egg! 

 

Eating 101, Class #1

 

"Cupcake" this is a favorite of my youngest.  She named this little Silkie right away.

 

Serious cuteness!!!!

 

Blue Silkie

 

Lavender Am/Silkie chick.  Beautiful colored feathers just like Mom, coming out already! 

 

Cochin/Silkie chick.  This little guy was last to hatch but made quick work of it once he got started.  I don't know why I am calling it a he......lol.  Only time will tell.

 

"Misty" makes a great heater for the babies to get snuggle up with.

 

 

 A couple days old and they are all doing great, eating and drinking great and are very active.

 

We can't wait to enjoy all these cute little personalities and see how they feather out.  Lots of fun around here.  And thankful for plenty of fresh eggs we get from our hens.  Having backyard chickens is a great tool for teaching kids many lessons about life, sustainable living, responsibility, good animal husbandry and tons of fun enjoying their funny antics and over the top cuteness!  We LOVE our backyard chickens!!! 

Everyone have a great weekend!