Ahh, The Peaceable Kingdom

Pretty Face

     Life is a learning experience.  And life on the farm is certainly a learning experience!  We never cease to be amazed at the occurrences here on our little homestead.
     Last weekend we moved all the baby chicks together -  3 that Pretty Face recognized as the ones she'd hatched, and the 6 that she rejected having been brought in as newcomers when a week or so old. We put all the Peeps together, thinking it would be best to combine them before they got to an age where they'd fight. (Admittedly, we don't know what that age would be, but we were basing it on the fact that the girls are acting like hens and the boys are acting like roosters.)
      So, together they went, and they did very well as one big family.  But, poor Pretty Face.  She remained in her little broody coop.  Alone.  She could see and hear her babies, but couldn't get to them.  It made me sad from the first moment. She cried and paced in her courtyard.  I was certain that she wanted to be with her babies!  Moshe kept saying, "Oh, she'll be alright."  But I just didn't think so...  More out of concern for me than Pretty Face, Moshe agreed to try putting her in with all the chicks.  It didn't work at all!  She pecked ferociously at the 6 "intruders", while happy to see her 3 chicks.  She went back to her solitary life.
     It bothered me all week.  It bothered me every time I looked out the back door, every time I went out to get in the Jeep, every time I went to get firewood, etc.  Ohhh, it bothered me.  I knew that Mamma chicken was mourning.  She paced nervously and talked incessantly.  I knew - like only another mother could - that she was missing her babies terribly. But, neither Moshe nor I could figure out what to do about it.

Peeps and the Peep hole

 

 Then, last night insomnia stuck.  I solved 2 or 3 problems during my middle-of-the-night-sleeplessness.
One of the solutions was the Pretty Face situation.  My idea was confirmed later in the morning when I spoke to my parents on the phone.  Mom grew up on a big farm with lots & lots of chickens.  When I described my idea, she said it was exactly what they used to do with the broody hens.  So, here it is:  We moved Pretty Face's broody coop adjacent to the Peeps coop, cutting a "Peep-sized" hole in the chicken wire so that the Peeps can go from cage to cage but Pretty Face has to stay in her territory. We figured Pretty Face's 3 Peeps could visit her, yet still interact with the other Peeps.  And, if the other Peeps came into hostile territory they could escape through the Peep hole. (No pun intended.)  My hope was that they could ALL learn to get along...
    

the combined coops

When the deed was done, sure enough several chicks went through into the broody coop.  Pretty Face immediately took her babies under her wing.  She started out scolding and pecking at the other Peeps, but in less than ten minutes she was accepting them all!  At one point I looked out the back door and Pretty Face had 6 chicks with her - and, only 2 were her original chicks.  Another time she was drinking simultaneously with 4 chicks, only one of which was "hers". 
     Moxie was really helpful during the transition.  While Moshe was cutting the chicken wire and moving the broody coop, he let Pretty Face walk in the back yard.  We knew she wouldn't go far... not with her babies so close by.  Moxie the Wonder Dog walked alongside Pretty Face, keeping track of her like a shepherdess with her sheep.
     And CassPurr?  He slept on the dining room chair that he has claimed as "his", totally oblivious to any and all the world's problems.  A total success story.

                 Shalom Y'all - Twyla

Pretty Face

Pretty Face, setting on her eggs

     "Pretty Face" is the name of one of our hens.  Pretty Face has decided to be broody. For a chicken, being broody means she wants to set on eggs. Her eggs. "Miss Congeniality's" eggs. "Runt's" eggs.  EVERYBODY's eggs!  Pretty Face has been sitting/setting for 4 or 5 days now.  Since she's in the coop that doesn't have a rooster, Moshe traded her eggs for (hopefully) fertilized ones from the coop that does have the rooster.  He gave her three eggs, and labeled them #1, #2, and #3 with a pencil. This way if she keeps gathering everybody else's eggs, like she's been doing the past couple days, we can take away the unmarked eggs and leave numbers one, two, and three for her to hatch.  (This morning she had eight eggs under her; I've read where hens will try to set as many as twenty!!!).
     Pretty Face is the only chicken of our dozen to demonstrate this broody behavior.  Isn't it funny how just one chicken decided to feel motherly?  From what I've read, usually if a chicken gets broody, she will be a good mother hen.  Most of them never feel like setting. We are blessed to have Pretty Face, because we were hoping to raise some chicks.  So far, God has provided everything we've hoped for when it comes to our animals. So, we are marking the calendar for twenty-one days, and, will see if we get some baby chicks.
     Now that Pretty Face has the distinction of being a brood hen, she will need to be moved - soon - to her own little chicken condo.  The little private chicken house only needs to be one room and can be used for incubation, hatching, and then for a week or so after the chicks have hatched. Baby chicks grow daily, and they will need another place fairly soon after hatching. We are already thinking about gathering materials for Moshe to build a third ark.   We'll see...
                                                              Shalom Y'all - Twyla