The countdown has begun – twenty-one days, more or less, and we should have baby chicks. Or, more precisely, there should be baby chicks out in the hen coop. There are a lot of ‘ifs’ to contend with, however.
We’ll have baby chicks IF Ms. Wyndotte remains in a broody mood and stays on the six eggs Nyel placed under her. We’ll have baby chicks IF the eggs he picked up at Susie and Gordie’s are actually fertile. (They say their rooster is a ‘busy boy’ so we are hoping for the best.) And we’ll have baby chicks IF we can successfully transfer mom and eggs to their Safe House.
It’s all rather complicated, mostly because we’ve never been really set up for raising chicks. Nyel did build a brooding area within the regular hen yard. It contains a little mini-coop and with a small run for mom and hatchlings until they are old enough to safely join their aunties beyond their chicklet playpen. It’s the fencing around the little run that is not yet complete and is the Project for Today.
As we farmer types know, timing is everything. It’s Mom Wyandotte that wasn’t clear on the matter. For the last week or so, she has been spending most (but not all) of her time in one of the nest boxes in the henhouse – not necessarily the same nest box every day and it didn’t seem to matter to her whether we took her daily egg or not. The fact that there is no rooster in the flock and the egg, if there was one, would never hatch was a concept beyond her capacity.
Although Nyel wasn’t totally convinced about the seriousness of her intent, at my insistence he fixed up the broody box but didn’t have time to enclose it with its own exercise area. Past experience tells us that the hen will not like being moved and, if possible, will abandon her eggs and go back to the main coop as soon as she can. So… we aren’t moving her and her half dozen hopefuls until escape is out of the question.
It would be far easier, of course, to leave her where she is. But the nest boxes are situated a few feet off the coop floor and don’t have easy access (for little chicks) to food and water. Not a good starting-off place for babies. They need the comfort and security of their own nursery area with easily accessible nourishment and out of the reach of well-meaning, busybody aunties.
If all goes well with the fence building today, we will make the Big Move tonight. (The book says to move broody hens and their eggs after dark.) And then, with any luck, we’ll have chicks in time for the summer solstice. All girls we hope! But nothing is ever a certainty with chickens.
Good luck Farmers Sydey and Nyel! If you get some I’ll have to bring Linda up to see your peeps. Actually, Linda will want to come to Oysterville with or without chicks.