Minnie & Babies

When I discovered the egg were hatching.

Minnie & Babies in Nest Box

Minnie Moo Moo is one of our original hen that we raised from day old when we first bought the farm. She is the only Barred Plymouth Rock of the original 5 that is still living. Minnie is the most gentle hen I have. Minnie went broody about 4 1/2 weeks ago and I decided to go ahead and let her try and hatch a batch of eggs. She started with a dozen eggs ended up trying to sit on 22 eggs, lol.  On 6/27 the eggs started hatching and we got 8 live chicks. (Only 1 of the chicks is Minnie's and the rest are her hen mates, since they lay in a community nest.)

Minnie & Babies in Brooder

Minnie decided to try and bring the chicks out into the chicken yard when the babies were less than 24 hours old and being that we have predators ( Foxes, Coyotes, Bears, Skunks, Fisher-cats (weasel family) , Racoons and more, not to mention the other 50+ older chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys we have.   I decided to move them to a contained brooder, where they would be safe until they were a little older.

Yesterday, the chicks were 10 days old and big enough to get out of the brooder with Momma.  They are so cute and such fun to watch!  We have spent a lot of time just watching the Minnie and the babies explore the front yard!  It's been such a great experience to see the natural bond between Mother and chicks,  I don't think I will be to using my incubator again very soon!