CHICK! So cute!
Tuulikki hatched a chick! We were astounded, because none of the eggs any of the hens have tried to hatch have ever been fertile before. Hermes figured out the positioning, I guess? (He's a bantam, and has previously been aligning at the front, rather than the rear, for the big hens.) We're pretty sure the egg came from Henrietta -- one of the Aracauna crosses, anyway, because the shell was green.
Anyway, we had planned to plant a bunch of tomato plants, today, and then maybe go to the figure skating competition. We'd done about half the garden work, and I'd said I should take a break so I didn't get a sunburn. I was just heading in when K. came running up, saying there was a CHICK in Tuulikki's nest!
We all ran to see, and it was there, and cute. P. headed off to the store for a chick-appropriate feed, and K. and I hunted down the chick waterer we had bought for the quail. Once the chick had water, I went to do web searches, because all the print information we have on chicks assumes they have no mother.
I found a few sources, mostly reassuring, including this article: Let Mama Do It. However, there was one obvious problem: the chick had hatched in a nest box two and a half feet from the floor, and climbing out of that nest would probably be fatal. K. and I talked it over, with info from the article above, and decided the old quail house would be a good home for Momma hen and chick, and that we would put it in the chicken yard. One problem: house needed a new back and then the roof reattached with new hinges.
Commence emergency carpentry -- in the sun, because I scrubbed out the house and needed to dry it. I wasn't thinking about that, of course, and of course it wasn't as simple as replacing one piece. By 6:30, we had a repaired house and I had a sunburn.
We set out the house, filled it with straw (as some sources said chicks should not have wood chips because they would eat them -- though that may not an issue with a mother hen) and experimentally moved Tuulikki and the chick (and the chick food, and the water). Within a couple of minutes, Tuulikki had settled them in the corner furthest from the door, with the chick cuddled next to her (for non-locals, it was super hot today) and by sunset, the chick was back under her, and I had made a ramp to the house door.
So, we'll see. My mind is irritatingly ready to supply dozens of ways the chick could die, of course, mostly fueled by information on raising brooder chicks, but Tuulikki seems determined to be a good mother. I'm hoping it will work out.
This entry was originally posted at http://gatewaygirl.dreamwidth.org/102434.html. You may comment in either place.
Anyway, we had planned to plant a bunch of tomato plants, today, and then maybe go to the figure skating competition. We'd done about half the garden work, and I'd said I should take a break so I didn't get a sunburn. I was just heading in when K. came running up, saying there was a CHICK in Tuulikki's nest!
We all ran to see, and it was there, and cute. P. headed off to the store for a chick-appropriate feed, and K. and I hunted down the chick waterer we had bought for the quail. Once the chick had water, I went to do web searches, because all the print information we have on chicks assumes they have no mother.
I found a few sources, mostly reassuring, including this article: Let Mama Do It. However, there was one obvious problem: the chick had hatched in a nest box two and a half feet from the floor, and climbing out of that nest would probably be fatal. K. and I talked it over, with info from the article above, and decided the old quail house would be a good home for Momma hen and chick, and that we would put it in the chicken yard. One problem: house needed a new back and then the roof reattached with new hinges.
Commence emergency carpentry -- in the sun, because I scrubbed out the house and needed to dry it. I wasn't thinking about that, of course, and of course it wasn't as simple as replacing one piece. By 6:30, we had a repaired house and I had a sunburn.
We set out the house, filled it with straw (as some sources said chicks should not have wood chips because they would eat them -- though that may not an issue with a mother hen) and experimentally moved Tuulikki and the chick (and the chick food, and the water). Within a couple of minutes, Tuulikki had settled them in the corner furthest from the door, with the chick cuddled next to her (for non-locals, it was super hot today) and by sunset, the chick was back under her, and I had made a ramp to the house door.
So, we'll see. My mind is irritatingly ready to supply dozens of ways the chick could die, of course, mostly fueled by information on raising brooder chicks, but Tuulikki seems determined to be a good mother. I'm hoping it will work out.
This entry was originally posted at http://gatewaygirl.dreamwidth.org/102434.html. You may comment in either place.