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Monday, September 19, 2011

Good, Bad, Worse


Good - Saturday morning the Commander went out to feed the chickens and look what he found, a little peeper!


Mom chicken (not to be confused with Momma chicken who is raising keets) seemed to be happy and yet a bit torn. She wanted to spend time with her peeper but she had 17 other eggs to still hatch.


Bad - Mom chicken gave up sitting on the eggs yesterday and totally abandoned them today, there were no other hatchlings. In order to make sure the peeper was getting food and water we moved Mom and her little one to the sheep stall. I put a few plastic eggs filled with dirt to give her an idea where she should nest and them set out some food and water. The two of them seemed happy when I left them.


Worse - Juliet is sitting a new nest in the woods. When last I checked it she has 15 or so eggs. It is way too late in the Fall for another hatching, the nights are just too cold. Now what am I to do?

7 comments:

  1. Oh gosh! If she does hatch out, you both have your hands full. Cute little chick!

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  2. You are the second person in just a couple of days that I've seen with a new little (single) hatchling! I wonder if the rest of the eggs just weren't viable and that's why she gave up?
    As far as Juliet goes, you can either 1. move her nest..she probably wont want to sit on it after that though, so if you're looking for more keets you might have to incubate them or 2. build a small structure around her to help keep the elements out. It is a hard time of year for birds with nests...the silly things should realize that winter is coming, geesh! LOL..good luck! :)

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  3. Well, at least the peep will have a warm Mom. I don't know didily squat about chicks and fall, so I sure can't help you with that. ;)

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  4. Michaele - She won't be able to hatch out in the current situation, I need to take Stace's advice.

    Stace - I have a duck hut that I can put over her if need be, I hadn't thought of that before you suggested it - thanks. I have someone interested in possibly incubating the eggs, so if I can get them away from juliet I may give that a try.

    Autumn - She should be warm with the sheep, although there is nothing I can do about the two of them getting lonely.

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  5. My peahen hatched babies in October once. She was awesome! She'd stand under the heat lamp and the babies would stand on her back. She was so good with them. None made it, but the losses were not her fault.

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  6. Teresa - One major problem here is that there is no electricty for heat lamps so the eggs will have to go.

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