This is a first here. A few days after Buttercup’s chicks hatched, her daughter, which she raised last year, hatched a clutch of eggs too. How often does this happen, where a mother hen and her daughter hatch eggs on nearly the same day?

The adventure begins. Buttercup has her chicks outside teaching them how to dig for earthworms and where to find good things to eat. She‘s also teaching them with her clucks and her calls when danger is nearby, which hens are friendly, and which hens and roosters to avoid. A little chick has so much to learn.

See how attentive she is? A mother hen cares for her chicks as much as a human mother cares for her child.

After a morning full of adventure, it’s time for a warm rest. The chicks find a perfect resting spot under Buttercup. This is what a hen looks like when she is giving her brood a well deserved nap.

This is how little chicks spend much of their time, huddled around their mother’s face. When they’re not staring into her eyes to see what she’s doing, they’re usually resting underneath her, bundled safe and sound, listening to her beating heart. It’s an infinitesimal number of an infinitesimal number of chicks who are lucky enough to have a mother. Even while they are in their eggs, the chicks at some point must feel and hear their mother’s heartbeat. Being able to take naps and sleep listening to the sound of their mother’s heart must be soothing.

“I only have eyes for you,” or are the hens saying, “I’m watching you!” Niji-himi 虹姫 is downright hawkish if you get too close to her nest. I wouldn’t put it past her to aim her beak right at my eye if I venture too close. Sunshine, below, is more mellow, as are Tangerine and Ungetsu-hime 雲月姫. When you study their faces, you see how different they all are. The shape and shade of their combs, their eyes, their beaks, their wattles, the color and pattern of their feathers. Their personalities are just as varied as their looks.