After 6 years of keeping laying hens, we finally got a broody hen! When I finally figured out that she was trying to hatch a clutch of eggs, I stopped taking them from beneath her. A few days before Easter, I made moved Rockie and her 10 eggs to a cage, still inside the chicken coop, with her own food and water. I knew from talking with my friends who've been through this, that I would need to protect the chicks from the other hens. I put wind protection around the cage & made it a little dark and cozy for her, just the way they supposedly like it.
When I returned home today, Abigail ran up to me saying, "You know you have a baby chick hatched, don't you"? Well, no, I didn't ~ and am so happy about it! We have raised a lot of chicks from one day old, but none of them were born on this farm. If there would be any way I could tell this first one apart from the ones to come, I would name him "Chester" or name her "Chilly".
Welcome to Chestnut Hill Farm, little one! (Please be a "Chilly" and not a "Chester....)
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