Usually getting baby chicks is a fairly planned affair. Either you order chicks from a hatchery or your feed store, or if you are ambitious you might buy hatching eggs for your incubator. Once in awhile, a hen will go broody, but usually she’s in the nest box and you can decide whether to allow her to continue or not.
Believe it or not, the above picture is of our Wheaten bantam hen. Little Lady disappeared a few weeks ago and we sadly assumed that something had eaten her. But then we saw her again, and we continue to see her every morning and evening at meal times. She just leaves the flock after that to return to her nest in the woods.
We had to decide how to deal with this and we are going to let her set out her time on the nest since trying to move her would risk her losing interest in the eggs. Once the chicks hatch (and we hope chicks will hatch) we will move them to a box inside so that they are safe from predators. I believe that some of the chicks will be from our silkie rooster, which means we will have a few more crazy silkies on the farm.
Meanwhile we check her every day. Eggs should take 21 days to hatch so she is due around June 14th. Fingers crossed that all goes well!
Day's Ferry Organics 