Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Family Portrait

Here is my attack hen (see previous post) and her brood, in a much calmer mood. I left her alone all day and when I went out for evening chores she had led all her babies into the miking stall and was showing them how to scratch for bits of grain. There are 14 chicks! Sadly, I  found three more chicks that must have gotten separated from the group and perished. Pretty hard to keep track of 17 chicks. I wish I had checked on them earlier.
Since we aren't miking now, I closed the family in the stall for the night and provided feed and water. There they will be protected and corralled, and not underfoot when I am hauling out bales of hay in the morning.

7 comments:

Snooks said...

Great pictures of mama and babies. There certainly are a bunch. Your photo shoot looks like it went a lot better this time.

@ 3Beeze Homestead

gz said...

that is still a large family she is left with!

Unknown said...

How cute! What is the normal, 'average' # of chicks one hen will have?

Susan said...

Hmm, I don't know how many eggs a hen would lay if she were family planning. I imagine that a hen might lay an egg a day for perhaps a week before settling in to incubate them, but in our free range situation other hens pop in and deposit their eggs in the nest sometimes and the clutch becomes huge.

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

awww so cute :) She looks like a great Mama.

Gardeningbren said...

You are really lucky to have a broody hen! You will always have chicks around. Quite a hatch for the dear girl.

Jocelyn said...

She's certainly got her wings full! Congrats on the new family!