...sometimes even a single feather is enough to fly. (Robert Maclean)

6.09.2013

getting our hatch on...!

 
 
When we went out to the coop this morning, Boo found this duck eggshell
and we thought -- oh no! what happened?!!! 
We thought the worst for a split second... that perhaps one of the other hens ate the egg...
  
But it was broken and empty for the best reason possible...!
We lifted up our broody hen and found that our very first sweet little "chuckling" has arrived!
 
 
I'll notify Websters about the need to add a new definition to chuckling in the dictionary.
Not just a verb anymore, chuckling is also a noun...
chuckling = duckling with a chicken mamma
 

We are swooning with delight,
and so is the chicken mamma.
 
 
wobbly wobbly
on those webbed feet!
 

When I was in the coop,
the little chuckling spent some time exploring
but never more than a few inches from mamma...
 
It's so sweet to watch them interact...
our chicken is a very tolerant mamma.


 
The other girls were bothering the new mamma in the coop so much,
that we decided to close the door and shut them out for the day
so she and the baby (hopefully babies soon!) 
could have some much needed peace and quiet.
 
 
There are plenty of other places for other hens to lay their eggs...
We have nesting boxes set up all over the place:
 
 
(They're just fussy hens and have their favorite place to go lay, which is of course
where the mamma's nest is...  Oh well, they'll have to use their coping skills
and figure out how to deal with it!)
 
 
And then there's our good girl Jersey who has been sitting on some duck eggs, too...
Hers should be on roughly the same hatching schedule as the other clutch, so we'll see!
She has taken up residence in an old dog house...
 
 
So far, so good!
Stay tuned for more chuckling reports!
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment