Took a peek into the 'nest box' last night as the 2 hens were turning in for the night and this is what I saw. Another chick would peek out on the other side. These 2 hens do every thing together and share the mothering duties.
Do I really have to go to bed? LOL
Awh, that's so cute. I love to watch the little ones with their mamas.
I know that they say animals don't "love", they just have instinct......... but I sure think it looks like baby chicks and their moms love each other a lot.
That is very cute, Halnik. Looks like the chick is snuggled into down, and quite comfy! Thanks for sharing the photos. BAM
Aww,sweet! They do love their Mama's, and if left with them they will become good mamas too!
Oh my gosh! What an adorable photo!
Silkies are so sweet!
Did you ever see that PBS special on chickens? There was a very heroic moma hen that
risked her life for her chicks. She was a white silkie, just like your two mom's.
They are beautiful! I'd love to see more pictures.
Tam
PS: do you know how many chicks there are? How many eggs were they sitting on?
Hi Tam! When they first started laying fertile eggs, I collected 6 eggs to put in my incubator. After that I let the eggs collect. First one hen started staying in the nest box. Then the next day they were both sitting. They had collected 18 eggs. They kept switching eggs aroung sometimes one would be sitting on all of them, sometimes it was pretty even. I would make sure to take them out once a day to get food and water and would check the eggs then. My first 6 eggs hatched great. When the 18 eggs outside were about on the 18th day of the hens setting I took 12 of them in and put them in the incubator. I thought 18 out in the box would be a little crowded. Of the 12 that I took in 11 hatched and of the 6 left out there 3 hatched. So I have 17 in the house under some heat and there are 3 outside with the mamas. The first 6 are 2 weeks old and the other 14 are a week old.
I could sit out there and take pictures all day - it's so cute watching the little ones running after their mamas and papa.
Oh... they are so cute! And I know just what you mean. I let my bantums hatch their eggs quite
a few years before the population got a bit large & I started worrying about in-breeding. I had
gotten three hens & one rooster from my cousin. I added a bantum silkie and she had babies.
We were raided by racoons & foxes after a few years of peace. I caught & relocated them all
and reinforced the barn. No losses since. But we have a dozen chickens & that's too many
already.
I just love watching the chicks. Their little voices are so cute. And all the cliche's about Mother Hens
are played out in real life. We just haven't had any for about 3 years.
I'd enjoy seeing as many pic's as you care to share!
Tam
Guess what? One of my little bantums hid away with a batch of eggs and
now we've got babies! I heard the peeping and found them tucked away
in a nook created by the barn & some bales of hay and covered by a big
vine. She's got two running around and more to come. I'm gonna leave
her there today & pick 'em all up tonight. I'll put them under a heat lamp
with food and water in a safe place in the barn.
woo hoo!!! A nice surprise. (My DH didn't look so happy but ... its not my
fault that we have more chickens. LOL)
Tam
Here's the little baby & moma w/her (so far) unhatched eggs...
Very sweet! I'm hoping to add more color to my flock, but better hold off for now. My husband already thinks we have too many. They were suppose to be for 'lawn ornaments'. I have a Plymouth Barred Rock hen that goes in and out of the pen and walks around. There's a 3ft fence that she just jumps over, but the silkies haven't, yet. Which is just as well. I didn't get them till a couple months ago, already grown up and so they're not as tame. Pepper the PBR is very friendly with people and so just walks up to us. The 3 ft fence is to keep the dog out of the chicken pen and eating their food. She's been trained to leave the chickens alone, but won't leave their food alone.