•2 min read•from Raising Chickens or Other Poultry for Eggs, Meat, or as Pets
It’s a sad day and a happy day on the homestead
Our take
Today brings a bittersweet blend of emotions on the homestead. We bid farewell to our beloved wolfhound, Bertram Wilberforce Wooster, who passed peacefully in the night. His gentle spirit will be deeply missed. Yet, as if nature herself wanted to remind us of the cycle of life, our broody hen debuted a delightful surprise this morning—eight adorable chicks! Mom, our lovely black Australorp, has kept them hidden, but Dad remains a mystery after hopping over the fence one day. However, not all is well, as a ninth chick struggles to find its footing. While it managed to drink water, it’s not as lively as its siblings. Any advice on nurturing this little one would be greatly appreciated!
| | Our 10yo wolfhound passed in the night. Bertram Wilberforce Wooster, you will be missed! Then this morning our broody hen (I was hoping she a missing broody lady and not a missing eaten lady) brought 8 healthy chicks out of hiding. Mom is a black Australorp, but dad is a mystery chicken who hopped over our fence one day. Picture included if anyone has any ideas of his breed! She left a ninth chick (loudly cheeping, which is how i found it) and an egg that hasn’t pipped but I can hear cheeping inside of in the nest (opinions there?). The chick is having difficulties: at first it just kept throwing itself onto its back and I kept putting it back up, but now it’s mostly staying up and I’ve seen it stumble a few steps a few times. I don’t know if this is recoverable or not, and would appreciate opinions. It drank water when I dipped its beak, but it is definitely not as vigorous or capable as the others. I hope the flair is alright, I really wasn’t sure which to choose since this post has a little of several of them 😅 [link] [comments] |
Read on the original site
Open the publisher's page for the full experience
Related Articles
- Unfortunately, the hard part of having chickens.Her name was Betty, and she was one of the original 6 chicks we got 3 years ago, and she was the alpha hen before we got roos. She hatched and raised a few chicks for us(including the rooster that took the alpha reigns from her), and she laid huge eggs almost daily. She actually had just started laying again after enduring a very hot Florida summer, and a prolonged soft molt. She was just dead on the coop floor this morning, no signs of trauma, didn’t appear egg bound, just a silent illness. I read that because chickens are prey animals, they will hide their illnesses and often won’t show signs, so there’s no telling what took her. The most unfortunate part is that she was my wife’s favorite chicken, and she’s currently at work right now and won’t know until I break the news to her when she’s off. Over our 3 year journey of having chickens, we’ve had close to 10 deaths. She’s become more calloused to it, but if any chicken death is gonna get to her, it’s this one. I have one last egg from her in our skelter, and I’m wondering if I should extract the yolk and preserve it. Thanks for reading, may all your chickens live full, prosperous lives. submitted by /u/Doomedxguy [link] [comments]
- My last remaining girl enjoyed her sun time ☀️ chicken loafunfortunately another one of my hens passed last month, I was very devastated as I've lost two hens who were my favourite. now it's just this one, who was the bullied hen! She is loving being alone. I was worried but she is so much happier now and it shows, of course I always go up every day and sit with her so I can take the role of being watch whilst she sits in the sun. obviously I always health check her and keep her entertained, but she is absolutely loving being alone so I'm going to keep it like that for awhile. we are hopefully going to get three new girls in a couple months too, a different breed since ISA browns have so many health issues, and she's 3 now, and is enjoying her retirement from egg laying. rip my past two girls who got me through my GCSEs and first year of college, they have been buried with some flowers and I'm going to display their feathers I got above my bed! (yes I made sure to bury them properly!) submitted by /u/-Sky_Lux- [link] [comments]
- Struggling Baby ChickI'm posting out of serious concern for a recently hatched baby chicken. I'm really worried and sad that the chick may not make it, so I ask for kindness in responses please. My hens have been tending to the eggs. This is my first time having hens to do the brooding and incubation. So far 4 have successfully hatched. This baby chick took over a day to hatch (so officially born fully yesterday evening). I checked up on it this evening and I see that one of its wings and side appear to be damaged (looks like a wound). The damaged wing looks like it may just be a nub? Additionally, on that same side of the chick its leg looks limp (apologies I'm having a hard time describing and it's difficult to take a photo with 2 hens brooding). The baby chick's eyes look like they're now closed, it's still chirping. Any recommendations/ideas/well wishes/thoughts and prayers? Tomorrow morning when the avian vet opens I'm going to call to see if I can bring it in. submitted by /u/ChibiBarbie [link] [comments]
- Left my chicken run door open yesterday and caught some squatters...I just had a very bizarre Sunday. I leave my run door open for my girls whenever I'm home and check on them throughout the day. Yesterday afternoon, while doing the rounds, I spotted one of these little babies running around inside the run cheeping her little head off. Absolute flabbergasted, I did a sweep of the yard and found another one huddled in a deep corner on the fence line. We live in a standard fenced-in suburban neighborhood with no real water sources nearby, so I'm very confused as to how they happened to end up in my yard that coincidentally has all the facilities to care for chicks. I'm guessing mama duck had a nest in my neighbor's yard, tried to march her new brood to water, and these two somehow got under the fence. The loud one must've heard my chickens and ran to the coop for safety. I drove around the neighborhood looking for mama, but to no avail. Once it started getting dark I brought them inside to the brooder and got them set up for the night. I immediately started imagining the movie-like scenario of raising them and eventually releasing them to a nearby pond where I could visit them for years to come, but unfortunately I understand that the best thing I could do for them in reality is to turn them over to a wildlife rehab to ensure they have the best chance in the wild. I've contacted a local facility and plan to turn them over today. I'm told they're going to be raised by their resident duck mother, Ingrid, along with her adopted flock. Just wanted to share with some folks that might appreciate it! I know every time I see some Mallards I'll imagine it's them. And who knows. Maybe it will be. submitted by /u/treasurebeard [link] [comments]