Aaaaw, thanks y'all! I'm definately a proud chicken granny right now!
Doc said when he got my message on his phone, he thought I was a little kid prank calling him until he heard the words "chicks" and "pine shavings" and then he knew it was me...guess I was just a wee bit excited! It is super-exciting, too, that these are the first babies born on the farm!
She's such a good mom for being such a small hen. I always crow about being "10 foot tall and bullet proof" but I think ChaChi deserves that title more than I do. I can't get near the pen without her giving me the "I eat humans for lunch" look and I'm definately a bit intimidated!
Was going to try and get some pix before we left for moms but it was already 105F so I just checked to make sure they had plenty of food and fresh water and left them alone. I'm suspecting that I'll wish I had a suit of armor when I go to get the unhatched eggs out of the nest box. Will have to settle for the pair of welders gloves for protection of my hands and arms and safety glasses so she wont peck out my eyes!
I'll make sure doc gets a pic before he leaves for work this evening!
Much cooler here today than it has been...we've still not hit 90F yet and it is windy! Taking advantage of it and getting more of the jungle cut back to rescue the Chick-n-Barn. Break time is over so I'm gonna get back at it!
Will be back later with some pix (watch what you wish for ).
Well, I'm sad to report that I didn't need to don my battle gear to deal with ChaChi yesterday so no silly-looking pic of me!
Bub is fascinated with the little peepers and while he was checking them out, old "10 foot tall" completely forgot about me, turned all of her attention to Bub and I was able to toss the towel over her. Sure made changing out the food, water and emptying the nest box easier!
Made a nice dent in taming the "jungle" yesterday evening but after nearly 3 hours of lopping my hands said they were done for the day. Would love to get the piles of jungle burned but it's just too dry and windy to feel safe about doing so. I'll just rake the stuff up into the driveway, let it dry out some and then chop it up into firepit sized "kindling" and burn it that way. It'll be a bit more work but I won't be near as worried about burning the woods down.
The official chick count is 5. There's only one black chick but it's a fast little thing so it got counted twice.
Yesterday was nice...95F, low humidity and a breeze but we're paying for the "break" today and topped out at 103F and it's supposed to be even worse over the next several days. Plus, they keep pushing our rain chances back.
This evenings chores will be taming more jungle, getting my melon and squash plants finally planted in the garden and direct sowing some pepper and mater seeds in the garden also.
Well, my above posted chore list kinda got accomplished since I got some of the jungle in the garden tamed back but then I had some major excitement and everything else got put on hold until tomorrow!
Yesterday I pulled the unhatched eggs out of ChaChi's nest. I set them in a paper bowl and added them to a plastic grocery bag of paper trash and tied the bag off. I set the bag by the fire pit with thoughts of getting it burned last night.
By the time I was done wrestling with the jungle around the Chick-n-Barn I didn't feel like messing with the fire so the bag of garbage spent the majority of the day in the sun.
Once it cooled off and the better part of the clearing was shaded, I headed out to do the chores and I hear this loud peeping so I go check on ChaChi and the chicks were talking up a storm but all was well so I went about my business.
I came inside to mark the time that I turned on the soaker hose as the area I wanted to plant my melons and squash in was too dry to dig. I head back outside, hear the loud peeping again and see movement in the bag of trash. Lo and behold, one of the "trash eggs" had hatched out inside the bag!
Meet #6:
After I toweled ChaChi and added #6 to the nest, I got the crew fresh food and water then went and collected the unhatched eggs and have them in a styrofoam box filled with straw up in the shed. Going to go back up there in a bit and try candling the eggs with the headlamp to see if there are any more hatch-hopefuls, just in case!
"10 foot tall" and a few sibling checking out the newest addition: