Post by Shawn on May 10, 2020 22:46:33 GMT -5
Well, not really, but it was a great thought.
Some of you may remember Margo, our special little banty hen? Well, I hadn't seen her daughter for quite a while. I told DH that she's probably holed up somewhere sitting on a passel of eggs, 'cause I don't think anything would have gotten her. She hangs out with her mom, two RIR pullets that her mom fostered and the Black Copper Maran Roo that her mother also fostered. He does a good job watching over his girls. They stay in the barn/corral area while the main rooster has the rest of the flock. Everybody's peaceful and things go smoothly.
Anyway... I had passed through the barn several times already today and at one point I hear frantic peeping. I step inside the barn and find a tiny black chick upside down in a feed trough. The only place he could have come from was second story barn floor. I pick him up and climb the ladder that's right there and there's Margo's daughter (she needs a name) sitting 3 inches from the edge on more chicks. I give him back to her, climb on up and move her into a box that had straw in it, away from the edge. The only thing I could think of was she was trying to get them downstairs to food, as there wasn't any nesting debris under her at all.
After a while I hit upon blaithin 's idea of putting her in the stock trailer, after DH reminded me it was going to rain for about 5 days. (Thank you for that idea!)
I went upstairs with a bucket and lid and scooped her up and put her chicks in with her (She has 9!) Put the XL dog crate, some straw, food, water in the trailer. She had them hustling about getting food and the ones shown at the waterer took lots of drinks. After wrapping up chores, I heard frantic peeping again. only 1 could master getting over the lip of the dog crate, so I took it apart and gave them the upper half (what I used to do for Margo's families) and she settled right down with them. She's not overly aggressive about her mothering, seems to accept help (like Margo). The Copper Maran is obviously the daddy as some even have the dark colored legs. Can you imagine a banty sized chocolate colored egg! I'm excited to see how many pullets there are.
And now what you've all been waiting for - proof!
thumbnail_IMG-20200510-01433 by Shawn Hoff, on Flickr
thumbnail_IMG-20200510-01434 by Shawn Hoff, on Flickr
Some of you may remember Margo, our special little banty hen? Well, I hadn't seen her daughter for quite a while. I told DH that she's probably holed up somewhere sitting on a passel of eggs, 'cause I don't think anything would have gotten her. She hangs out with her mom, two RIR pullets that her mom fostered and the Black Copper Maran Roo that her mother also fostered. He does a good job watching over his girls. They stay in the barn/corral area while the main rooster has the rest of the flock. Everybody's peaceful and things go smoothly.
Anyway... I had passed through the barn several times already today and at one point I hear frantic peeping. I step inside the barn and find a tiny black chick upside down in a feed trough. The only place he could have come from was second story barn floor. I pick him up and climb the ladder that's right there and there's Margo's daughter (she needs a name) sitting 3 inches from the edge on more chicks. I give him back to her, climb on up and move her into a box that had straw in it, away from the edge. The only thing I could think of was she was trying to get them downstairs to food, as there wasn't any nesting debris under her at all.
After a while I hit upon blaithin 's idea of putting her in the stock trailer, after DH reminded me it was going to rain for about 5 days. (Thank you for that idea!)
I went upstairs with a bucket and lid and scooped her up and put her chicks in with her (She has 9!) Put the XL dog crate, some straw, food, water in the trailer. She had them hustling about getting food and the ones shown at the waterer took lots of drinks. After wrapping up chores, I heard frantic peeping again. only 1 could master getting over the lip of the dog crate, so I took it apart and gave them the upper half (what I used to do for Margo's families) and she settled right down with them. She's not overly aggressive about her mothering, seems to accept help (like Margo). The Copper Maran is obviously the daddy as some even have the dark colored legs. Can you imagine a banty sized chocolate colored egg! I'm excited to see how many pullets there are.
And now what you've all been waiting for - proof!
thumbnail_IMG-20200510-01433 by Shawn Hoff, on Flickr
thumbnail_IMG-20200510-01434 by Shawn Hoff, on Flickr