Niji-hime 虹姫 is showing her chicks the importance of digging. Her seven chicks watch her every move. They dart in and out between her leggs, snatching any worms or bugs she digs out of the ground. Chicks are born knowing how to scratch. They’ll do it even if they don’t have a mother to show them. But with a mother showing them and protecting them, they are much calmer and more confident.
Category: Raising Chicks
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The Importance of Digging
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Interracial Lesbian Mothers
What is happening with the two mother hens sharing a brood? They are still getting along. At night, they sleep side by side in the doghouse where they hatched their two chicks. It’s impossible to know where the chicks are sleeping. Are they under one hen? Is there a chick under each hen?
We’re calling them the interracial lesbian mothers. The chicks move freely between the two hens. The two hens aren’t exactly close. During the day they keep a few feet from each other, and it’s clear that each would rather have the chicks all to herself.
In the four years I’ve been watching hens hatch and raise chicks, there have been a number of unusual situations: hens which have given up incubating midway and replaced by hens which finish the job, hens switching clutches, and hens taking care of another hen’s chicks when the chicks were orphaned.
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Two Moms
This is a first. There are two chicks with two mothers. Three weeks ago the black hen started sitting on a clutch of eggs. About ten days ago, a white hen decided she wanted to sit on the clutch two. Sometimes the black hen would be on the eggs. Other times the white hen. After a few days, they had the eggs divided and they sat on them side by side.
Two chicks hatched and today the hens had them outside. The chicks were going from one hen to the other, treating both of them as if they were their mother. When one hen would find something good to eat and call for them, they would come running to see what she was pecking at. When the other hen did the same, they went running to her.
I have no idea how this will turn out. I’m thinking that one of the hens will end up being the mother that raises them, but who knows? Maybe they will come to a co-parenting arrangement. See Interracial Lesbian Mothers.
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Gathering Eggs
It’s easy to get distracted when gathering eggs. There are iris blooming, a hen exploring a stream bed, stewartia and dogwood in bloom. A tucked up pullover works just as well as a basket for collecting eggs.
Gathering eggs is an opportunity to see how the growing chicks are doing. The chicks below are figuring out where to roost for the night. Slowly, they’ll make their way up onto the main roosts where the adult chicks sleep.
These little chicks at four weeks are now on their own. This is their second night without their mother. She’s gone back to roosting with the rest of the chickens. The chicks have found a comfortable spot near where they used to sleep with their mother. They should be roosting soon.
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On the Trail
This Barred Rock mother is watching over her chicks as she takes them along a garden path. They are 25 days old and are confident enough to venture a ways on their own. But, she is always watching out for them. With eyes on the sides of her head, she can see nearly all around her without moving her head. So she can see what chicks to the right, chicks to the left, and chicks behind her are doing.
