I was beginning to wonder if this little hen was going to bring off any of her eggs. Her hopes were bigger than her bottom, but she insisted on trying to keep the whole big clutch of eggs warm. It looks like at least one egg has been successful. I'll check again in the morning. Fingers crossed, she will have added to her brood and in a few weeks' time, a string of energetic chicks will be trailing along behind their clucky hen mother sampling all the tasty bits our front garden has to offer.
Congratulations and good luck, plucky little hen!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! Is she less touchy about you handling the chicks than she would be about the eggs? Or did you put your fingers in jeopardy to pick up that wee thing?
ReplyDeletePaula - This is her first time being a mom and she's done great so far.
ReplyDeleteKate - For a broody bantam, she's surprisingly mellow. Hasn't tried to peck me once or do more than grumble when I disturb her.
I've had some real psycho hens, including 2 game hens that battered each other and killed both their broods of chicks fighting, each trying to claim all the chicks for themselves. All the game hens were barred from sitting on eggs after that. And the Phoenix X bantam hens are terrible mothers, but the pure Phoenix are wonderful.