Lokey and her 10 chicks on July 12th (one is hiding behind her).
For the last several years we've kept our flock of laying hens steady at about 12 to 14, along with a couple of roosters. They're split into two groups (that are never let out of their coops together because the two roosters will fight) plus a few hens who live on the loose, including one who hung out for a while with the sheep.
The hens provide us with more than enough wonderfully flavorful eggs, and every year at least two or three of the hens usually hatch out a couple of baby chicks (many of whom turn out to be roosters). I don't know if it's the new feed we switched to a while back or what, but this year four hens hatched out 40 live chicks.
And half of those were Lokey's.
Lots more photos below. . .
In late March, Lokey hatched out 10 chicks in an old wool-lined styrofoam cooler up on a shelf in the former Cat Cabin, which has been taken over by chickens (they're everywhere). When the chicks were a couple of months old and well on their way to being completely grown up (but still spending the night together in a very small portable pen), she flew the coop and disappeared.
It turns out Lokey ran off to sit in the bushes on a new giant pile of eggs. And in late June, she hatched out another ten chicks. This brood lived out loose in the farmyard, and Lokey (who was much happier than when she was locked up in the little portable pen) did a beautiful job bringing them up and keeping them in line.
These photos of the second batch of babies were taken in July when they were three weeks old. How about a little bop down baby chick memory lane?
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More baby chicks? Here.
More Lokey pics? Here.
The rest of the flock? Here.
© FarmgirlFare.com, the all grown up foodie farm blog where apparently I'm not the only one around here who likes itty bitty baby chicks the best. Now if only they would stop growing up and turning into roosters.
I live in a Manhattan apartment with three cats and a couple of window boxes full of herbs to satisfy my farming fantasies. But what I have wanted for many years is chickens. Unfortunately, I can't get my neighbors to agree that what our roof needs is a coop (and a beehive) on it! (Hope yr feeling better, Susan, and that you've gotten some rain and cooler weather.)
ReplyDeleteThere's not much cuter than little fuzzy chicks! Miss Lokey sure is a good mom!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it is that most chicks grow up to be roosters?
Miss Lokey is quite the mama - and a real beauty at that! Her brood is so cute - I love her baby chicks too!
ReplyDeleteSo cute indeed! I am itching for chickens of my own but they are a few months off still...sigh!
ReplyDelete20 babies in three months??? Lokey should get some sort of medal! hehe :-)
ReplyDeleteWe've had 2 hens and a duck sit on nests, a few of the eggs hatched, but they haven't survived in the "free range" atmosphere. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteHi Brenda,
DeleteThis is the first time we've had any baby chicks just out loose - usually a day or two after they've hatched, we move the mama and her babies into a small enclosed pen where they can bond and stay safe.
I try to wait as long as I can before moving a mama hen if she's still sitting on more eggs, because whenever I move the nest and eggs into the new pen (no matter how careful I am, if I do it in the dark, etc.), she stops sitting on them. I have successfully stuck eggs under a different broody hen though. :)
The only reason we left Lokey out with her second batch of chicks was because all the other pens were full - and she was really tired of being cooped (ha) up after spending a couple of months in with her first 10 chicks. The pens aren't all that big!
Just beautiful - what a great Mom that Lokey is!
ReplyDeleteHi Everybody,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the fun comments!