Green Acres

Today has been quite a day in the chicken coop. For starters, I went out to open the coop and found a couple of babies out. Shoot! I forgot to put the brick in front of the door last night. Well as I did my head count I found my 2 black silkie youngsters missing. They never did show up. No bodies anywhere. They went to bed last night. So that means one thing. The little munchkins snuck out of the crack in the door too early this morning and something was still prowling. Now after all these years with chickens I know my preditors. Couldn't have been hawks. The trees give great cover. Coons, opossoms and skunks, weasels/minks leave very distinct calling cards usually involving body parts and/or go for the eggs first. So this is a carnivor of some sort. So out came the trap. I have set out pork cutlet. I'll be sure to report what I get. It is either a ferocious feral cat or a bobcat or fox is coming up close to the house which is a first. You see we have no cover in the field behind us. It is a corperate farm so those creatures usually stay further away since they don't like to cross that field. BUT we are seeing the critters closer and closer. I think it means there are greater numbers in the area.
Ok, first problem solved more or less.
Next problem. I have 2 hens that we think are at least 12. Guess what?! 12 year old hens get old hen diseases. Now I have a nutty hen who can't seem to stand any more. This started today. It's not a wound. It seems like a hip replacement issue and maybe convulsions. I don't know what to do. She is as fat as can be and laid an egg today. I put her in cage to protect her from the mob and roosters and I guess I'll deal with her tomorrow.
Problem 3. Then there are the 3 silly mothers currently in the nursery pen. I am dealing with Psycho Sadie, probably a daughter who is a first time mother, and a part Aracana hen (blue eggs) and they are known for not being good mothers. However, this one is determined to mother. It's the sitting on the eggs properly she can't seem to get right.
Ok, Sadie who is a problem every year, hatched 2 chicks. She had at least 6 more eggs. The hens generally sit for several more days while they wait on the rest of the eggs. Not Sadie. Her babies were born yesterday. This afternoon she already had her babies out of the nest and had abandoned her eggs. Her daughter, whose personality is similar to Sadie's, had one baby and had somehow managed to carry the wee one up and out of a box 2 feet deep. I am still trying to figure that one out. Her eggs were abandoned too. So I began to clean up the eggs. Imagine my surprise to find a brand new baby in Sadie's nest. The poor thing was frozen but still peeping. So I took all the eggs and the poor orphan into the house and put them under a light in a box. After doing some chores and thinking I decided to stick the orphan under the hen who can't figure out how to incubate her eggs properly. Bingo! She accepted the baby. Problem more or less solved.
I did my horse lesson and all my other chores and finally at about 9 pm I went back to see if my eggs had any cracking showing any potential new babies. Imagine my surprise to hear chirping in one of the eggs. That has never happened to us before. So I took the egg out to my adoptive mother and she immediately accepted the egg and began talking to it. Hopefully I'll go out to 2 beautiful babies tomorrow. Although you never know with chickens. Mother hens can be very cruel to eggs and babies. They seem to just know if a chick isn't healthy or a egg isn't right.
I have one last thing to report in the chicken coop. My female call duck (mini) finally laid an egg. She is very happy with her new mate and her permanant home in the nursery pen. That is great news.