She's a mother!

Remember Jeffrey? She's been broody for a while. We tried REALLY HARD to break her of it, but she wasn't having any of that! We would trap her outside the coop and she would walk around it all. day. long.  We finally gave in to her toddler like demands and let her sit on some eggs. The kids would get the biggest kick out of opening up the coop doors to hear her screech. 

She had three eggs. One hatched in the wee hours of the morning and didn't make it :o(  We saw another one hatching, but it seemed to be taking a long time so we asked Dr. Google what to do.  Meet the chicken obstetrician.  Joshua......

Joshua VERY patiently broke small pieces of shell off with the tweezers while keeping the membrane moist. It took several hours. Meet Colby (as in Colby Jack.)

Baby chicks are so sweet and Jeffery is such a good mother!

Oh yeah, the other egg was a dud. We candled it and there was no chick. Jeffrey doesn't seem to mind.

TTFN!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

We got some new chicks today and let me tell you there is nothing cuter than brand new baby chicks! Their little cheeping is so sweet to hear and we even have one that plays dead for us.

These are some pictures of our older girls (and boys). They're finally earning their keep around here and producing eggs. They love to roam about the place looking for bugs, mostly ticks I hope! While we were on vacation they got a little wander lust and found the neighbor's yard which is quite a feat. The only access they have to the neighbor's yard is 200 feet of barbed wire in some pretty dense woods. I guess they missed their chicken charmer!

These are the roosters (in case you couldn't tell!) Their names are Popcorn and Buttercup boy. If you want to have roosters, Bantam roosters are nice to have. They stay small and I think they realize this fact. They don't torment the people around here like bigger roosters are prone to do.

See these pretty eggs? Ok, ok, I know what you're going to say. One is pretty small, huh?  Well, being the chicken amateurs that we are we didn't know what a Bantam chicken was. Do you? They're pretty small chickens. So pretty small chickens lay.....you guessed it... pretty small eggs.  But now Jeffrey has become a bit of a pet so I guess we'll keep her around even though it'll take six of her eggs to make a decent omelet. And in case you're wondering, yes, we named a female chicken Jeffrey. Don't ask.

TTFN