Baby Swedish Flower Hens!

Blackie brooded eight Swedish Flower Hen eggs. When we got home from vacation on Saturday evening, there were three chicks hatched. Another chick had hatched, but it had died. I really believe the 100 plus degree weather for the past two weeks had something to do with it. Either the baby got too hot or it smothered. Then by Sunday another chick hatched. Monday morning I checked the three remaining eggs - one had never developed at all, another developed partly and then quit, and the third started hatching but died before making it out of the shell.  So our hatch rate wasn't as good as when Onyx brooded eggs.  However, Onyx didn't brood during an all-time record-breaking heat wave.  The very next time I have a hen go broody, I intend to save more SFH hatching eggs to put under her.

Here are the four healthy and thriving chicks.  

I like the variety of colors.  There is the one yellow/brown one in the top part of the photo.  Then there are two mostly black & gray chicks, and then a gray and white one.  I am eager to see whether they develops crests, too.  With the rooster and two of the three hens having crests, it is likely that most of them will have crests, too.

Some people breed against crests, but I love the crests.  So I'm excited that these chicks will probably have crests.

In the pen with the rooster and three hens are two younger pullets - 16 weeks old now.  So in just a few weeks, I'll have five layers.  I'll look forward to seeing what the pullet/cockerel count ends up being with these four new chicks.

Away from the Farm for a Week

We are on vacation - and while I'm loving the beach and being with my children and grandchildren, I still keep thinking of my chickens.  In our part of Tennessee, the temperature has been over 100 for much of the past two weeks.

Poor Blackie, our 15-month Jersey Giant started sitting on 8 Swedish Flower Hen eggs almost three weeks ago.  She's in the broody pen in our coop, and I worry about how stuffy it is in there for her.  I miscounted the days - and I put the eggs under her a day earlier than I should have.  With this heat, the eggs will likely hatch early.  So, instead of having the eggs hatch on Sunday as I'd hoped, almost certainly the chicks will start hatching tomorrow - and I won't be home until Saturday.

I'm just hoping everything goes well - that the coop isn't too hot and stuffy for the baby chicks.  And, since the pop doors to the coop have remained open all week, I'm hoping that the run has continued to be secure and that chickens have been safe, cool and happy for the week that I've been gone.

We have had a trusted friend take care of our animals while we've been gone.  But he will only go by once each day.

I'm really anxious to get home on Saturday and see that everything survived okay for a week with me.