New Baby on the Homestead

We had a new baby hatch out two weeks. Black Butt went broody before I went into the hospital. Of the three eggs she was sitting on only one hatched. It's a Rhode Island Red. I saw it for the first time yesterday. I've been hearing for weeks now. Mel moved the mother hen and chick to the small chicken coop last week. With the 1/2" hardware cloth on it we knew it would be protected.

You may remember the small coop we got for free last year from the woman we bought our self black English angora Lil Albert Einstein. A heavy limb fell on it. Mel brought it home and repaired it.  We kept it in the bunny barn to use as a hospital/quarantine pen for new or sick bunnies or chickens. Also if Broody, aka Gimpster, went broody again, she's have a quiet spot to be. It was cheaply made to begin with. Mel beefed it up some.

But Black Butt would have none of that. She pecked us unmercifully hard enough to draw blood whenever we put our hands near her while brooding in the nest box. We left her there. The other hens begrudgingly used the other nest box. With so few laying hens, there were only three eggs in the box. So Mel moved them after the first chick hatched. Eventually she left the other unhatched eggs and started tending to her chick. She still won't let us near the chick. She is a very protective mother.

Last week while Mel was putting feed and water in the pen, Black Butt and chick escaped the enclosure before she could catch them. They had free range of the bunny barn. She protected her chick from Broody, Little Sis, and Big Red. They ate and watered together just fine. Black Butt hovered over her chick and protected it from everyone.

Yesterday, Mel left the gate open while she filled extra rabbit bottles with water. She was also putting frozen water bottles in the rabbit cages. Black Butt and her chick escaped the confines of the bunny barn. Black Butt was a free range chicken before going broody and she wanted to be again. I tried to catch them but couldn't. The hen and  chick are out free ranging now.

So far so good. I'll have to wait a few more weeks to see if the chick is a replacement layer or dinner (rooster).

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo