A Surprise…

Ever since the weather has gotten nice around here, we have been battling one of my hens.  She was constantly flying over the fence.  We’d put her back in the hen house and the next morning..out again.   This happened day after day…so annoying.  I finally decided the next time she did it, I would clip her wings and hopefully that would be the end of it.

That’s the last time I saw her out.  Problem solved…she heard my threat or so I thought….WRONG!

Apparently she  got out again and headed to a secret location where she laid eggs and hatched out NINE baby chicks!  I feel so awful.  I didn’t even notice she was gone.  We have several Buff Orpington hens and I didn’t physically count and notice she was missing.

Well it’s looks like we have NINE more chickens than we did before.  Now we are in a big debate trying to decide how long to let her be outside and when to put her and the chicks in the hen house….

So far, she is one heck of a momma.  These pictures were taken yards away from her and then cropped so you could see them.   She wouldn’t let me get closer.   Some are darker colored and some are lighter colored.  The rooster is a sex linked rooster meaning a cross that allows a farmer to be able to tell the sex of the chicks by their color…. and the female is a Buff Orpington.  I have no idea what these little guys and gals are going to look like when they grow up.  I am guessing either reddish or buff.

If you want to check out a picture of my rooster and my other hers, you can follow this link.

It is sure to be a fun couple weeks watching these little babies grow.  I just LOVE chicks.  They are truly my favorite farm animal.