Early Spring in the Garden and Chicken Coop

A Gardener's Early Spring

"Mud, flood, blossoms, and babies signal the arrival of spring..." is an excellent way to anticipate and welcome the start of every gardener's favorite season. 

Quote and info adapted from one of my favorite sources, The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner: What To Do & When To Do It by Ann Larkin Hansen.

From Candling to Hatching Baby Chicks

So Many Chicks in 2020

The year 2020 had many of us locked in our homes looking for projects to occupy our time. It turned out that some of our chickens found themselves in the same situation. We had a few ladies who went broody and wanted to be mamas. Little did we know how many chicks that year held for us.

This post contains graphic pictures and videos of chicks hatching and newly hatched.

Planning Ahead

In a previous post, on the joys of hatching chicks, I chronicled hatchings from 2019 where we allowed nature to take its course. With the craziness of 2020, and those previous girls still too young to lay, we decided to increase our flock by purchasing 6 more layers, not knowing our girls had many more chicks planned for us.

(6 new Isla chicks purchased March 2020)

Not the Only Chicks

We thought these would be the only babies we'd have on the homestead this year. However, our mamas from the prior year must have found themselves looking for more to do with their time.

Gals Going Broody:

March - May Hatchings

I always cave in when the mamas want babies, so I decided to allow them to hatch some more. 

Unfortunately though, my spacing was limited in the barn because the new Isla babies were staying in the makeshift maternity ward. I decided to convert our empty rabbit hutch into a makeshift maternity ward.

The Joy of Hatching Chicks

Success Stories Through the Years

With baby chick season upon us, I thought it'd be a good time to share some of my successful hatches from over the years.

I've never incubated eggs. I have always followed nature's lead and intuition. I first began hatching chicks when we rescued a rooster from an abusive situation. He was a beautiful and friendly Ameraucana. 

Meet Big Papa

He definitely had a way with the ladies, and in the beginning of 2019, he inspired more than one lady to become broody. It was that year, we saw two mamas work together to sit and raise babies not just once, but twice.

It was so awesome to see the two mamas work together and support one another. It was a nice lesson in life, and reminded me how thankful I was (and am) for my fellow mama gal pals.

January 2019 - The First Hatch

Meet The Mamas

Our two Speckled Sussex took turns situating themselves on the eggs. They even used their beaks to nudge the eggs under each other when they seemed to be too exposed.

Within a few weeks, we watched the little ones hatch.

It was such an incredible experience. I felt like a midwife bringing life into the world. The mamas never pecked at me and seemed to understand that I was there to help.

To learn more about hatching chicks with a broody hen, check out the happychickencoop.com.

Meet the Babies

They were adorable and a unique mixture. At the time we had about seven different types of hens and the Ameraucana rooster, so we knew we'd get some beautiful babies.

Awesome Mamas

The mamas didn't stop after the chicks were hatched. They raised them together and spent time each day teaching the babies how to forage and roost.

They were such friendly mamas.

July 2019 - The Second Hatch

When the first set of chicks were a few months old and pretty self-sufficient, our two mamas were back on the nest looking to hatch another set of babies.

Just like before, the mamas proved to be doting and loving. I was so proud of them, and so incredibly thankful to be able to increase our flock by letting nature take its course.

And our new egg supply was awesome!

They all continued to grow and lay such cool colored and great tasting eggs.

If you're not sure whether or not you should allow a broody hen to hatch chicks, check out some great reasons at homestead-honey.com.

Our Teenagers from the January Hatch

Pictured below is Reggie, a young rooster who went on to increase the flock of one of our friends. He was a good looking guy when he outgrew his gawky teen years.

One of the teenage roosters we decided to keep, mostly because he became inseparable from one of the hens. 

Meet Angela and Dwight (pictured below). Dwight would never be more than a couple feet from Angela at all times. Dwight was a black Australorp rooster and Angela was a small little white hen mix.

2019 was such a fantastic year of hatchings. I loved all the colors and personalities of the babies. There is no way it would have been possible if we didn't have two incredibly sweet Speckled Sussex mamas who were up for the challenge. It was great to let nature take its course, and we were blessed to be able to be a part of it.

If you're looking to learn more about hatching and raising baby chicks with a broody hen, chickenpedia.com is an excellent resource.

I've love to hear some of your best stories on hatching chicks.

 

The best laid plans of chicks and men

That's not exactly how Robert Burns and John Steinbeck intended that phrase. Yet, in the same way readers discover that humans can't control fate or Mother Nature when it puts a kibash on our best laid plans, I too learned my lesson. And my best laid plans were those laid by chickens, or so I thought.

Hatching Chicks

I've hatched chicks a handful of times, but each time, I had a rooster and allowed nature to do it's job when a girl went broody. Unfortunately, I lost our rooster in a fox attack along with six of my young brown layers.