The Chicks Hatched!

Onyx, our broody Araucana, successfully hatched nine chicks on Monday & Tuesday.  And by yesterday, they were already running all over the coop and the run.  I am so totally sold on broody hens!  That's the way to go for hatching eggs!

These photos were when they were just a few hours old.  Below is a video taken just a little later.

Broodiness! It's contagious

While Ron an I were out of town this weekend, our son took care of the chickens for us.  When I talked with him Saturday night, he said, "Mom, I think you have another broody hen."  I asked him which one, and he said the black one.  We have three solid black hens.  One is Onyx - and she's already in the brood pen sitting on 11 eggs.  That leaves Blackie ( a Jersey Giant) and Whiskers (an Araucana) as the possibly broody.  It ended up being Blackie.

Last summer Blackie went broody, and I broke her of it because at the time there was no place where I could isolate her while she sat on the eggs.  Plus we didn't have a rooster - and I was too new to chickens to know that I could easily get fertilized eggs from other chicken enthusiasts around Nashville.

So Blackie is broody.  Tomorrow I plan on getting some hatching eggs from some Backyard Chickens folks in middle Tennessee - hopefully some unusual breeds.  Then I'll set Blackie up in the same pen as Onyx and let her sit to her heart's content.  I'm not positive that I'm going to put her with Onyx.  I need to do some reading and see if there will be any problems with putting the two together.  I wouldn't want Blackie to bother Onyx's chicks when they hatch next week.