We love having babies at Fangorn Farm, especially of the cute yellow fluffy variety! And the gorgeous red four-legged mooing variety, and hopefully the woolly baaing variety one day!
Our hens have been sitting on 24 eggs. Nearly a week ago, two chicks hatched. Georgia has been checking on the chicks frequently. She carries them around with her, bringing them inside to hold them and watch them. She loves it that they love her warmth and she holds them close to her and cradles them as they doze off. You can see how happy she is:
From the 24 eggs, 3 have hatched. One was very weak and it died. Three others have tried to hatch but they have died too. So far, no other chicks have hatched, but we hope that we get some more chicks soon, and we hope that they are girl chicks – especially the ones that Georgia loves, because we will be roasting the boys!
Aren’t they so cute and fuzzy at this stage? We hope that this time we will have better luck with raising the chicks. The last couple of times our flock has suffered the perils of the quolls, who ate them just at the 20 week roasting age! This time we have a fully enclosed, safe chook pen, so hopefully all will be well.
Hi Emma. We have two roosters actually. Originally we bought four ‘hens’ but two started crowing… They are not too bad with us at all. The bigger one is the dominant one and we should have eaten the smaller one a while ago. I like having roosters because they protect the flock, for example, when our dog walks past the chook pen the roosters carry on loudly and usher the girls into the enclosed part of the shed. The drawback of having roosters is the crowing, which pretty much occurs the whole time they are awake. I think if you got a young rooster and got him used to you, and even used to being handled, you might find him to be a rather lovely pet. Possibly.
Do you have a rooster or did you buy fertilised eggs? I have been reluctant to get a rooster as I was chased by a very angry one when I was young! Just wondering if you have a nice one??!! Is this even possible??!!