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| L to R: Muddy, Skunk and Lemon, descendants of Punky and the Rangers, raised by Puffs :-) |
PUFFS HATCH A MIRACLE CHICK (OR ?), Come along for the first look......
We took, what we thought were fertilized eggs, from our two favorite full size hens (Miata and Corvette) and placed these eggs under a broody bantam Silkie hen, affectionately named Mom1. She dutifully looked after the jumbo brown eggs as if they were her own. Almost to the day, 21ish days later we have confirmed "peeping" sounds coming from Mom1's nest box.
Yesterday we looked (while Mom1 was grabbing a quick bite of breakfast) to see what was going on, there was a partially opened egg there and the baby was not moving, we assumed the worst. The other eggs were still intact. We closed the lid and looked away. Last night while closing the coops I listened outside Mom1's nest box and heard no peeping. Today while opening the coops and putting out morning treats we confirmed at least one, maybe two different peeping chicks underneath Mom1 and her helper Mom2.
FATHER = White bantam Silkie Rooster named "Punky". He is our most friendly, adorable and entertaining rooster.
BIOLOGICAL MOTHERS = Fathers two girlfriends are standard size sex-link hens. Each of the hens lays an egg everyday.
Each day Mary harvested the two eggs (freshly laid by the biological moms) and slid them in under our broody Silkie (Mom1)who lives in a completely separate coop and pen. The biological moms don't even know they've made more chickens.
TWO MOMS ARE BETTER THAN ONE
There have been two Moms (mom1 and mom2). Mom1 has been on the job, every day. She has been right there on top of the eggs with her wings outstretched, keeping the precious cargo warm and moist.
Mom2 is a second Silkie hen that went broody about the same time as Mom1.
Mom1 is where Mary put the eggs from "The Rangers" (aka Miata and Corvette). Mom2 literally spreads her wings and sits on Mom1's left wing, over the eggs. It's a double blanket for the little chicks, which is nice considering it is some of the coldest weather we have here in Central Florida.
Outside air temperature has dipped into the 30's a couple of times and last night the temperature was down to 55-degrees F. Since Silkie hens are extra super fluffy and they regularly go broody they make perfect surrogate mothers for our newest tiny raptors ;-)
We started with eight eggs (ut oh, should have limited it to six standard size eggs). One egg became cracked and spoiled about 2-weeks into their incubation. This left us with seven large brown eggs under Mom1.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
How many of the 7 eggs will hatch? Will any more hatch?
Will they be bantam or standard size birds?
What color will the chicks feathers be?
What color will their skin be? Silkies have blue and purple skin.
Will they have feathered feet?
How many will survive?
How many will be hens and how many will be ROOSTERS?
Will they be mean or sweet?
Will they be cute or butt-ugly (only a chicken owner could love)?
The chicken adventure continues........ stay tuned for updates
We can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings, what will the babies do? How many babies will there be tomorrow? What will the Moms do? It's in Gods hands.
THE THIRD DAY OF LIFE FOR TINY BABY CHICKENS
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| Day2: Inside Brooder Box on Screened-in Porch |
Today is their third day alive here in The Matrix :-)
It got down to 44 degrees F here last night, burrrrrrrr for baby chickens.
We gathered some data yesterday but had some chaos. We moved the baby chicks and their two adopted moms to a brooder house in our screened-in porch. ALL the puffs wanted to get in on the act once they saw the babies, at one point there were four Silkie hens sitting on the three babies. ALL the puffs liked the food and water we brought into their Formex coop. The problem was, the babies could not get to the food and water. The two surrogate moms protested a little bit but quickly adjusted to their new (brooder) home.
ABOUT THE CHICKS
They all have feathered feet
Lemon has yellow colored legs
Muddy and Skunk have blue beaks
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| Lemon, Muddy and Skunk, Mom1 on left, Mom2 on right |
Skunk seems a little retarded or something is not quite right, we're praying for her, we think she was the last to hatch (so far) so maybe she's just weak. When we peeked in this morning she was under mom, peeping but at least she was warm.
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| Lemon peeking out from the warmth of moms wing |
The two moms are amazing, they are perfectly sharing their duties with no visible jealousy or social issues. The chicks don't show any preference to which mom they are under and it's hard to imagine anything cuter than tiny little yellow headed Lemon or brown headed Muddy peaking out from between moms wing and her body, P E E P !
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| Muddy peeping out from under moms warm, soft and fluffy wing |
PEEP!
THE FOURTH DAY - January 12, 2023
That brooder box on our porch is one happy place. Prayers have been answered, the tiny baby known as "Skunk" was much stronger and up walking around, eating and drinking, she looks vibrant and alive. My new theory is that he was born a little bit premature so as to hatch with his brothers. A group of chicken eggs typically hatches within 24 hours of each other, regardless of when they were laid. Since we harvested the eggs, two at a time per day that created a 4-day span from when the first pair went under Mom1.
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| Life in the brooder box |
It's impossible to look in the brooder and not say "A W W wwwwwwwww", it's a big wooden crate of cuteness.
One thing became very clear today, the moms are pooing very well, whew, smellllll Baddddd. I put on a pair of rubber gloves and we cleaned it out, should last for a couple of days. Everyone is eating baby food right now (moms are nibbling on a piece of Bok Choi).
THE REMAINING EGGS - there were four unhatched eggs, they were several days late so we finally decided to get them out of the way so Moms could focus on their playful chicks.
We candled the eggs in a dark bathroom (shined a bright Makita spotlight into the eggs). Two of the eggs showed basically empty, unfertilized. Two of the eggs showed something dark, no light would go through the egg. This means two little guys did not make it through the incubation period (it's tough being a chicken).
My theory on the failures, we tried to hatch too many at once. There is not enough room under a bantam Silkie hen to properly incubate 8-eggs. Mom2 could not be affective at seriously warming the eggs that were sticking out so they were not held at best temperature and failed before hatching.
PEEP!
DAY 5 EVERYONE IS STILL ALIVE!
All the baby chicks are doing fine and so are their two Moms. The three babies are strong, running around, being..... baby chickens, adorable.
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| The brooder box door is open but everyone stays inside where it's safe |
The baby chicks are still covered in soft downy baby fluff, they are some of the softest things known to mankind. We've been giving the moms this box of sand to dust-bathe in, everyone has been outside the brooder box to check out the sand but it feels safer right now, inside the box.
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| Mom peeps out to see if it is safe outside. Chuck-chuck-chuck |
Peep!
DAY 6......36 DEGREE MORNING, INTRODUCING KITCHEN CHICKENS
While they should be ok out on the porch under their moms we just could not stand the idea of them being cold last night so we had no choice, we brought them into the kitchen.
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| Kitchen Chicken Brooder Box |
The three babies are happy, alert, very excited, running around, flapping their teeny tiny little wings.
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| Kitchen Chickens, it's a happy place |
It's amazing watching them grow under the continuous leadership of two adult moms. There is an almost continuous verbal chain of communication between the moms and the babies when they're not sleeping.
Peep!
DAY 7, Back in the Kitchen for another cold night, 34-degrees F, Burrrrrrrrrrrrr...peep, buck buc..
Last night was another very cold air temperature, it got down to 34 on our kitchen weather station. We love out little baby chickens so we brought the whole brooder box into the kitchen again.
This video shows the gang at the age of 7-days, plus the 7 month old moms. Notice the divine number 7? It's also Sunday so a video update of these divine little creatures seemed appropriate.
Peep!
DAY EIGHT, STILL GOING GREAT (In spite of 38-degree night)
Last night the brooder box had to spend the night on the screened-in porch. It was only supposed to go down to around 44 last night but instead it went on down further. We were very glad to see that the mom's did a great job of keeping the little chicks warm.
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| Babies sticking close to mom for warmth, she's a 99-degree radiator |
Even today, now that it's up in the 60's on the porch and we have the box top open, the chicks are out running around and testing their little wings which are already beginning to feather out.
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| Their world is still this 20 x30" wooden dog crate |
Lemon is looking more and more like a Silkie. She is fluffy and her wing tips are starting to look a bit shreddy.
Muddy has feathered feet (all of the babies do) but he does not have five toes an important Silkie characteristic. The wing tips on Muddy look well formed, he's probably going to make a great flyer.
Skunk is adorable, she is a miracle chicken. It's lucky for her that we found her when we did. I'm pretty sure she came out of the egg, prematurely, to be with her two siblings who were also hatching. Skunk just needed a couple of extra days to finish getting ready to assume her role as a beautiful little chicken. Today she is full of life, running and flapping and singing beautiful little baby chicken songs.
Peep!
DAY 9, EVERYTHING IS FINE!
Baby chickens and both Mom's are doing great. It is so interesting to watch these five birds all living together in this little wood box (approx 20" x 30"). What makes it so amazing is, we open the door so they can come out and explore the real world, so they can dust bathe and eat sand, all the things chickens love. What do they choose? Back in the box. Neither of us here at P2 central, after YEARs of pet ownership (that is being owned by pets ;-), 120+ man years combined, never had a pet that WANTED to go back into it's house.
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| Moms did not like my iPhone camera, they blocked my photo attempts |
The babies are still adorable BUT growing FAST. Three days ago I saw the first bit of tail forming on the back end of Lemon, now all three of the babies have very profound tail assemblies.
Peep!
DAY 10, HERE WE GO AGAIN
Baby chickens are so cute, sounding like a broken record here but they are adorable. Every morning we can't wait to look in and see what the little dorks are up to. These babies are not genetically related to their moms at all. The babies actually seem smarter than the moms.
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| Lemon, looking back at you, awwwwwwwww |
Each baby has wing feathers that are forming very rapidly. The tiny new feathers have classic roundish shape and are so beautiful, just very teeny tiny. These feathers will actually grow in size? It won't be long before these babies are ready to "fly the coop" and test their flying skills in the real world.
Mom-1 does not like my iPhone being close to them AT ALL. Her growling grunts were there to warn me to "keep that thing away from my babies".
Lemon is becoming more and more fluffy, we both think "SHE" is a silkie. We'll find out pretty soon. She is adorable, still cute as can be peeping out of her moms wing, like wearing a big fluffy winter coat. The babies are out more than we thought they would be but today, one of the warmest days out of the last five, the babies are hiding in the warmth of Moms wings.
Peep!
DAY ELEVEN, LITTLE GIFTS FROM HEAVEN
Today we moved the baby chickens and Moms to the atrium area on our screened-in porch. This gives the group real Florida sand to play and poo in plus it gives Moms a chance to dust bathe and clean up after a grueling week of raising three little chicks.
Meanwhile, the chicks are growing like weeds. The tails are fun to watch, Lemon has a very pronounced "pom" tail.
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| Muddy is flapping his wings wildly enjoying his day in the courtyard nomming Bok Choi |
One of the things we discovered from raising these chicks WITH chicken Moms is the difference in the chickens personality. There are a lot of variables at work but these three little chicks had a Mom, actually two moms, to look after them, show them things, talk to them, keep them warm, show them food resources and so much more. As a result these chicks seem more well adjusted and much less neurotic than chicks WE raised in a brooder without a mom on hand.
Peep!
Day 12, Into Life They Delve
Baby chickens (and Moms) had a great day today. The temp got up to 80-degrees, there was a nice breeze, beautiful sunny skies, perfect for baby chickens to play and discover the world. So amazing to only be 12 days old yet so bold, alive and anxious to check everything out.
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| Little Lemon is under Big Pom Mom, nibbling in their Jurassic Park |
The two Moms continue to work as one looking after the little ones. They are constantly aware of where the babies are. I picked up Lemon to look at her and I received a lot of angry "chucking" from both moms. When Lemon was one day old she was nothing but fluff. Today I was amazed, she feels like a little bird, she's developed a body and it has mass, not a lot but.......
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| A safe play area for the baby chicken family to play and learn, our screened-in Atrium |
The shape of the wings and the development of their colors is a big visual change today. Lemon's tail is getting very prominent. Muddy and Skunk both have tails but Lemons looks like a pom that's been glued on, it's large and round.
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| It was hard to catch a picture of everyone together, babies are wound up from playing all day |
The Atrium is a wonderful safe place for the babies to play and learn to come out into the world. When the chicks get tired they all head right back into the brooder box for a nap to recharge, then back out to play in the sand, eat a plant, peck a bug, chase a lizard, it's a big beautiful world to a little baby chicken.
Peep!
DAY 13, Babies on the Scene!
A TALE OF TWO MOMS TAILS
There are many things that make this batch of tiny chickens SOOOOO special but by far one of the most AMAZING attributes is watching the two moms interacting with the babies. There is a synergy or oneness to their activities and outings which can only be described as, adorable.
Today baby chickens spent the entire day in the atrium area of the screened-in porch play playing. After a little rearranging their wooden box home has space so we won't need to move it tonight, they are staying in the atrium. The wireless camera is there so we can keep an eye on everyone from the safety of our kitchen.
Peep!
DAY 14, DO YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
Can you imagine what it is like to be two weeks old? The chicks are alive and running wild. They have a special way of flying and running which allows them to cover a large area very quickly and look hilarious in the process.
The little white chick is "Lemon", look at the tail she is sporting, it's got twice the girth of either of her sisters.
MEET THE GENETIC PARENTS (they don't even know they have kids lol)
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| L-R: Miata, Corvette and Punky (check his blue ear lobes, yea he's cool) |
That fluffy white guy is "Punky", he is the bantam silkie father of the baby chicks. The two standard-size orange hens are "Miata" and "Corvette". These three chickens form a group voted THE BEST CHICKENS, they are friendly, they stay in the play area, they are always ready for a treat, they never bite and they put themselves to bed at night. Their friendly and happy nature is what prompted us to go radical and let our two broody silkie moms do some chick rearing for us. We're hoping the new babies are as friendly as their genetic parents.
MEET THE MOMS
The two white silkies below are the surrogate moms, they have no genetics in common with the baby chicks but they totally own them as their own since they've been imprinting on and conversing with the little ones before they hatched (YES mom talks through the egg shell to the chick and hears the chick inside the egg).
STILL BROODY?
As a test we put four new eggs in with the moms to see if they would resume hatching, NO! The moms spoke, they pushed one of the four eggs out the door of their brooder box and ignored the remaining three new eggs. The message was clear, WE'RE BUSY! We've already got baby chicks to look after.
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| The babies easily hop up 7" onto the concrete block. |
Could you jump straight up twice your height when YOU were two weeks old?
The baby chicks can pass right through the dog fence but the moms can not fly over it. The babies stay with the moms, they don't wander away. They remain right next to one or the other mom, whichever is closer.
Another day of chicken play comes to a close.
Peep!
DAY 15 IS KEEN
Lemon has gotten so big she almost does not fit through the dog fence. A couple of days ago she could just walk right through, between the wire rods. Today was a different situation, she must twist herself a little bit and pushhhhhh to squeeze through. In a couple more days Lemon will not be passing through.
Muddy is also starting to have difficulty passing through the fence but he does not need to push like Lemon does.
Skunk is turning into tabby chicken, she has beautiful tabby stripes on her wings. She can still pass through the dog fence effortlessly so she is that much smaller than the other two.
The moms are very protective of the babies. If you make a fast move near the chicks you might get a very stern peck from mom to let you know that is not cool around her chicks.
The moms recognize us (vocal and visual recognition) but a curious delivery person peeking in might result in chaos, squawking and a lot of flapping.
SILKIE MOMS GOT MOVES
At one point I was bringing the family a new perch which we built, many chickens ago, just for babies. The dark large object flying through the air and coming into their air space triggered a panic move I've never seen before, mom dropped her wings to the floor so the babies could get under them and she ran like a protective turtle shielding the kids.
The family picked several different places in the atrium today to R&N (rest and nest). We were wondering what the family would do at bed time but no surprise, they went with old reliable, the brooder box. When the sun went down the chicks were under mom(s) and everybody was tucked snugly in the back corner of the brooder box. We shut the lid and wished them all a good night.
Peep!
THURSDAY JAN 26, 2023
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| The babies still cling to mom for safety |
The bonds between the moms and the baby chickens have been some of the most amazing things to see as the chicks have grown. The moms could not have cared more or less if these were THEIR genetic babies. Silkie moms and baby chickens are all speaking the same language.
Baby Chicken Update - They can fly, like little windup chicken toys
The babies have been spreading their wings a lot and exploring the atrium area of the screened-in porch. I received some stainless mending plates which will be used to reinforce the ramp in the new coop we're preparing for the little chicken family.
At least three or four times a day we say to each other "lets go look at the babies" and then we go out to the atrium to experience them live. We also have a TV camera on them so we can keep an eye on things from the kitchen.
It has been so much fun watching the baby chickens grow up, seeing their adventures with their adopted moms unfold in real-time, halfway through only their third week of life.
PEEP!
SUNDAY JAN 29, 2023
Here is the Amazon chicken coop we refurbished for the baby chickens to poo in, I mean play in :-)
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| Repainted and caulked the roof, reinforced the ramp footing |
Muddy is turning orange (not surprising, his mother is orange). They all look like they're getting walnut shaped combs, ALL ROOSTERS? Oh no, this is bad.
Here's a video of baby chicks not cooperating (they are staying hidden behind moms). The Silkie hens outside the house are from Flock #5 (who had their day out in the play land), they were all curious to visit the baby chickens who had been taken away from them almost 3-weeks ago. It was in a Flock #5 nest-box that magic happened almost 3-weeks ago, the three little baby chicks hatched there. Flock #5 is five white Silkie Bantam hens plus Boo, our little Blue chicken.
So far it is still pretty easy to catch a baby chicken (to inspect, pet, tickle and torture with affection, nothing is cuter or softer than a baby chicken).
M O R E CHICKENS! MADE HERE AT P2, IN THE POULTRY COLONY!
Mary has lost her mind (finally, I lost mine years ago), Marilyn (a white Silkie Bantam from Tractor Supply, a resident of Flock-6, "Dustyland") went broody and MARY put four more (fertilized?) Ranger eggs under her (Chicken-Speak: "in the oven"). More Roosters? We'll know in 3-weeks. (Mark likes baby chickens too.....)
As baby chickens develop inside the egg they make tiny sounds, the Momma Hen sitting on the egg feels and hears these sounds. This creates an early dialogue between mom and baby as the baby chick develops inside the egg shell. Baby chicks know Moms speech the day they hatch.
The Greatest Chicken Story ever told........ 8-)
WELCOME TO "ROOSTER RANCH"
P E E P !
SATURDAY 02-02-2023 UPDATE
We had baby chicken outings twice this week. We put up a folding dog fence to set a perimeter and let everybody out of the Amazon house to run, play, and of course be petted ;-)
Lemon is the most gregarious of the three babies, she gladly flies up to perch on Marys hand.
Muddy surprised us by flying up so sit on Marys hand, no treats were involved, the little chicks were just curious about what it would be like.
Skunk (changing into Tabby) is the least friendly, he runs like crazy to avoid being picked up. He did not push through the dog fence at all in his second outing so he may be getting too plump for that. Even if he is not very friendly he makes up for it with cuteness.
In two more days it will be birthday celebration time, the three miracle babies will be four weeks old.
UPDATE ON MARILYN AND MAKING MORE CHICKENS
Marilyn is doing a great job sitting on her surrogate eggs. Today is the 7th day (out of 21 days) for this potential round of additional baby chick "Mutts". If we're successful and she hatches some eggs will they be as friendly as the current babies? Will Marilyn be a good mom? The chicken adventure continues.
Peep!
MONDAY, FEB 6, 2023 BABY CHICKEN 1-MONTH BIRTHDAY PARTY
Complete with cake, party favors and cute little baby chickens.
Their cake has a delicious grasshopper on top (that did not last long).
Baby chicks can't blow out candles.
What's cuter than a baby chick? Two baby chicks.
Baby chickens are a month old today. What's cuter than two baby chicks? Three chicks and their moms!
Baby chickens seem to be more comfortable with us on this outing than our last.
Peep!
IN WEEK 5, STILL ALIVE AND WELL, SAT FEB 11, 2023
The baby chicks are all doing great. Lemon is very gentle, and while NO chicken is really happy to be held or cuddled Lemon puts up with it and enjoys treats for being nice.
We tried combining the baby chick family (Flock 8) with the Puffs (flock 5 where this all started). The two baby chick moms came from Flock 5, the five Silkie hens and one Belgium Blue (in former Flock 5 group known as The Puffs) were all raised together since they were a day old.
Since the two moms were parted-out from the Flock-5 group (around five weeks ago), now they all hate each other. LOL. The fighting and chaos that happened while we allowed them to be together was too gross so we separated everybody back into separate groups. Peace is restored.
UT OH!!!
Marilyn went broody Jan 29 (destination Sunday Feb 19 for hatching). Mary slipped four more Punky&Ranger eggs under her. She has been dutifully sitting on the eggs, managing them and talking to the baby chicks developing inside.
Today we moved Marilyn and her eight eggs to the brooder box. One of the other standard chickens in Dustyland (Shannon) added four of her brown eggs to the ones under Marilyn. It is not allowed to write on or attach colored tape to the eggs, the shell is a living thing along with the chick inside.
CANDLE RESULTS
We began to candle the eggs tonight, this is the process of shining a very bright flashlight into each egg to see if there is a bird inside. The first egg we pulled to examine revealed it was just an egg, unfertilized, no baby chicken inside.
The second egg was black, baby bird inside, Mary carefully replaced it under Marilyn. We candled two more eggs, total of four eggs candled. Three show baby birds inside. We did not want to disturb Marilyn any more so we called off any more candle operations. There are seven eggs under Marilyn now, she is doing a good job covering them with her fluffy Silkie wings.
Mary figures there are four baby chicks brewing and the other eggs are not fertile, we hope. What if they're all Roosters?
MARILYN BACKGROUND
In April Marilyn will be two years old. She is a white bantam Silkie hen. She was a random grab out of the chick box at Tractor Supply. Peggy (our TSC sales lady) said "look you got a Silkie". Mary knew but I did not know how cute and fluffy Silkies are. Their sweet personality and gentle nature make them ideal surrogate moms for other chickens eggs. Marilyn could care less about where these eggs came from, she's all in, these are HER future adorable babies.
PEEP!
