We have had 3 hens hatch off chicks (or "bitties" if you are from around here) during the month of June. Two of them we planned and one hatched off hers in the hills in secret. (We are still missing another hen that may be setting somewhere.)
While it was wondrous to observe God’s creative miracle in the hatching of the chicks, and also amazing to watch the mama hens guide and protect her little ones, we have also been brought back to the reality that we live in a fallen world and that our homestead is in the middle of a wild country with various wild animals and predators. The hen we had named "Big Comb" hatched off 6 of the 10 eggs we put under her, on June 2nd and 3rd. We had her in her own small covered lot but let her out so she could show her little ones the beautiful world they were born into. This was the week of our VBS and on the night of the 4th we got home pretty late. It was after 10:00pm by the time I was going out to shut up the coop and Big Comb’s cage.
It had only been dark for about an hour, but that was enough time for tragedy to strike. The main coop chickens were fine, but Big Comb was not in her spot. Looking closer I saw feathers and the evidence of a struggle, and the dead bodies of two of her day-old bitties. They had not been dead for long. Upon further examination I found two more of the chicks still alive, huddled behind the nest. They seemed to be OK!
Here are some pictures of the two survivors:
The last two chicks were nowhere to be found and Big Comb was definitely gone, but at least these two little ones had made it! I imagine that whatever it was that got Big Comb and the two bitties would have come back and eaten the two dead chicks and finished off the last two surviving chicks soon. I wonder if my coming down the road had scared the predator away before it had finished? I was also mad at myself for not going out there the minute we got home from VBS instead of going in the house and unwinding for a few minutes. Maybe this would not have happened.
This was also sad because Big Comb was the last survivor of our original hens that we had gotten back in the spring of 2004. (We still have some of the original pullets.) She was the matriarch of our flock; mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to many of our current flock.
In the meantime, the hen we named “Black Frost” had appeared from the weeds in the hills with 10 bitties of her own, also on June 2nd! We think they were hatched the end of May because they were already much larger than the two surviving day-old chicks of Big Comb’s. Black Frost is almost totally black in color with subtle specks of white on the back of her head and she seemed to be an excellent mother. She would not even let us get close enough to her chicks to offer them food she was so protective.
We had hoped that we could give the two surviving chicks to her to adopt, but we could not get them close enough to her for them to follow. If we could have just known where she was nesting we could have put them under her at night, but like I said, this was VBS and each night we would get home at dark, after Black Frost had already disappeared to her hideout.
Finally, on Friday June 8th, our hen Cinnamon hatched three chicks. She was another of our hens that went “missing” last month, but had gathered a nest of eggs for herself. We found her and her nest, candled the eggs, and moved her with the eggs we thought were good to a secure chicken cage. She had three healthy, black chicks! Several more of the eggs had “pipped” but something happened and the chicks did not make it out.
We had kept the two orphans in the house for several days, but that night they gladly snuggled down under Cinnamon with their three new siblings. I have been careful to close them all up together in their protective cage each evening and we have enjoyed watching them forage and hunt for food when I let them out in the mornings. Cinnamon will let us get very close to her chicks and it has been fun feeding them.
Meanwhile, we thought Black Frost was doing a good job wherever she was hiding at night. We would see her each day with her 10 chicks following her around, and she would flog off any dog or cat that came too near. She had kept them safe… until last night.
This morning, as I was feeding the chickens around 6:15, I noticed that Black Frost was running around making all kinds of racket, but with no chicks following her. It was so sad, seeing her clucking and cackling and making little mama hen sounds. I looked around the hill where we suspected her night nest to be and listened for any sounds, but I came to the conclusion that the chicks had fell victim to a wild animal.
Black Frost looked disheveled and battered a bit, but still healthy. I imagined her trying to fight off whatever predator had found them but had to retreat in the end. Apparently the little brood had been attacked and scattered.
The good news is that around 9:00 today Christina noticed that Frost had one of her bitties with her! She had found at least one of them! I guess there is still a chance that some more may turn up today, but it would be mighty slim odds. It sure is odd seeing only one chick following her around when there were 10. Here she is with her one surviving chick:
A few hens have also hatched off about 40 chicks in our neighbor’s yard. These are from the nomad flock that no one is sure of who they belong to. Some of them have been coming over to our yard and visiting, so we may end up with some of them before it is all over. One of the mama’s is the one we called Blue Legs who stayed with our flock over the winter but never got comfortable staying in the coop. She has been bringing her 14 bitties to our yard frequently and they are adorable.
Farm life in the hills of Kentucky is often exciting and fun, but it is also sad at times when we are reminded that there are plenty of wild animals looking for an easy meal. I guess they have to survive, too, but I wish it would not be at the expense of helpless little animals that are under my watch care. (Speaking of wild animals, another black bear was spotted in our county last week. The newspaper said there have been reports of bears from 5 different areas of the county this year, one of them being just a couple of miles from here across the river! The black bear population is growing in our neck of the woods in eastern Kentucky. Several years ago the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife would deport every one they caught to a more uninhabited area somewhere, but now they are allowing most to stay. I think that is pretty cool, as long as they leave our chickens, goats, pigs, and apiary alone!)
While it was wondrous to observe God’s creative miracle in the hatching of the chicks, and also amazing to watch the mama hens guide and protect her little ones, we have also been brought back to the reality that we live in a fallen world and that our homestead is in the middle of a wild country with various wild animals and predators. The hen we had named "Big Comb" hatched off 6 of the 10 eggs we put under her, on June 2nd and 3rd. We had her in her own small covered lot but let her out so she could show her little ones the beautiful world they were born into. This was the week of our VBS and on the night of the 4th we got home pretty late. It was after 10:00pm by the time I was going out to shut up the coop and Big Comb’s cage.
It had only been dark for about an hour, but that was enough time for tragedy to strike. The main coop chickens were fine, but Big Comb was not in her spot. Looking closer I saw feathers and the evidence of a struggle, and the dead bodies of two of her day-old bitties. They had not been dead for long. Upon further examination I found two more of the chicks still alive, huddled behind the nest. They seemed to be OK!
Here are some pictures of the two survivors:
The last two chicks were nowhere to be found and Big Comb was definitely gone, but at least these two little ones had made it! I imagine that whatever it was that got Big Comb and the two bitties would have come back and eaten the two dead chicks and finished off the last two surviving chicks soon. I wonder if my coming down the road had scared the predator away before it had finished? I was also mad at myself for not going out there the minute we got home from VBS instead of going in the house and unwinding for a few minutes. Maybe this would not have happened.
This was also sad because Big Comb was the last survivor of our original hens that we had gotten back in the spring of 2004. (We still have some of the original pullets.) She was the matriarch of our flock; mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to many of our current flock.
In the meantime, the hen we named “Black Frost” had appeared from the weeds in the hills with 10 bitties of her own, also on June 2nd! We think they were hatched the end of May because they were already much larger than the two surviving day-old chicks of Big Comb’s. Black Frost is almost totally black in color with subtle specks of white on the back of her head and she seemed to be an excellent mother. She would not even let us get close enough to her chicks to offer them food she was so protective.
We had hoped that we could give the two surviving chicks to her to adopt, but we could not get them close enough to her for them to follow. If we could have just known where she was nesting we could have put them under her at night, but like I said, this was VBS and each night we would get home at dark, after Black Frost had already disappeared to her hideout.
Finally, on Friday June 8th, our hen Cinnamon hatched three chicks. She was another of our hens that went “missing” last month, but had gathered a nest of eggs for herself. We found her and her nest, candled the eggs, and moved her with the eggs we thought were good to a secure chicken cage. She had three healthy, black chicks! Several more of the eggs had “pipped” but something happened and the chicks did not make it out.
We had kept the two orphans in the house for several days, but that night they gladly snuggled down under Cinnamon with their three new siblings. I have been careful to close them all up together in their protective cage each evening and we have enjoyed watching them forage and hunt for food when I let them out in the mornings. Cinnamon will let us get very close to her chicks and it has been fun feeding them.
Meanwhile, we thought Black Frost was doing a good job wherever she was hiding at night. We would see her each day with her 10 chicks following her around, and she would flog off any dog or cat that came too near. She had kept them safe… until last night.
This morning, as I was feeding the chickens around 6:15, I noticed that Black Frost was running around making all kinds of racket, but with no chicks following her. It was so sad, seeing her clucking and cackling and making little mama hen sounds. I looked around the hill where we suspected her night nest to be and listened for any sounds, but I came to the conclusion that the chicks had fell victim to a wild animal.
Black Frost looked disheveled and battered a bit, but still healthy. I imagined her trying to fight off whatever predator had found them but had to retreat in the end. Apparently the little brood had been attacked and scattered.
The good news is that around 9:00 today Christina noticed that Frost had one of her bitties with her! She had found at least one of them! I guess there is still a chance that some more may turn up today, but it would be mighty slim odds. It sure is odd seeing only one chick following her around when there were 10. Here she is with her one surviving chick:
A few hens have also hatched off about 40 chicks in our neighbor’s yard. These are from the nomad flock that no one is sure of who they belong to. Some of them have been coming over to our yard and visiting, so we may end up with some of them before it is all over. One of the mama’s is the one we called Blue Legs who stayed with our flock over the winter but never got comfortable staying in the coop. She has been bringing her 14 bitties to our yard frequently and they are adorable.
Farm life in the hills of Kentucky is often exciting and fun, but it is also sad at times when we are reminded that there are plenty of wild animals looking for an easy meal. I guess they have to survive, too, but I wish it would not be at the expense of helpless little animals that are under my watch care. (Speaking of wild animals, another black bear was spotted in our county last week. The newspaper said there have been reports of bears from 5 different areas of the county this year, one of them being just a couple of miles from here across the river! The black bear population is growing in our neck of the woods in eastern Kentucky. Several years ago the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife would deport every one they caught to a more uninhabited area somewhere, but now they are allowing most to stay. I think that is pretty cool, as long as they leave our chickens, goats, pigs, and apiary alone!)
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