Thursday, June 4, 2009

Ollie Has Babies!

I woke up at 6 this morning, very early for this night owl. The first thought on my mind was that I had to check on my hens. I put on my bathrobe and slippers and headed straight to the chicken coop. I let all the hens out to forage then checked on Ollie. I listened for the sound of peeping and I heard it! Faint peeps were coming from under her! I lifted carefully and found a dark chick, just barely dried. How exciting! Ollie is doing such a great job.

I went back to bed after trying in vain to get photos. Have you ever tried to photograph chicks under a very protective hen? Lemme tell ya, it's darn near impossible! And if Ollie wasn't such a nice hen I'd have bloody hands by now! She tolerated my poking and prodding but just barely. After my nap I finally managed to get some decent shots. Here are the first chicks' legs. I wanted a photo of its face though.

There, that's more like it! Its mama must have been an Australorp.

I could also see that another egg had been zipped. The chicks' beak was poking out and it was breathing. See the white egg tooth on the end of a black beak? Hatching is hard work! Come on little fella, you can do it!


The other two eggs have not pipped that I can tell. I'm afraid to do too much poking around in there for fear of killing them. I hope you enjoy the photos, I risked life and limb taking them!


Daisy's clutch is due to hatch today too. I haven't heard a single peep. She's sitting like a statue and hasn't taken a break at all today. I'm thinking there's something going on but I can't see a darn thing. The drakes are beside themselves with nerves.

OK, maybe they're not that nervous, but I think they sense that something is going on. Waterfowl form very tight bonds as a family unit.

There's not much to do when you're waiting for babies. You can knit booties, clean house or, in our case, plant trees. Betty was a bundle of nerves too, so she helped me plant some trees by the chicken coop.

Hang in there Betty, the babies will be here soon!




12 comments:

  1. I am anxious too. I have never seen an egg hatch. Ollie is a nice hen to have allowed you into the box. I am excited about the arrival of my chicks next week.

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  2. Ha! Awesome, congrats, Amy. I have tried getting a good shot of hatching chicks under momma too... not an easy thing to do. :)

    Enjoy the little ones!

    Ron

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  3. Awww they are so cute....the mom however looks like "what are you doing with the camera in my face at a time like this."

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  4. Ohh, that's exciting. Can't wait to see pics of the all the little peeps! You've got some good mamas.

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  5. nice pictures. I love baby anythings...and chicks are near the top.

    www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com

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  6. Congrats Ollie. You're doing a great job.

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  7. *´¨)
    ¸.*´¸.**´¨) ¸.**´¨)
    (¸.*´ (¸.*´* Congratulations Ollie~

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  8. So very cute :) I can't wait to see your ducklings! Good job girls!

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  9. I really am enjoying your adventures with your "brood" Amy! Thanks for posting about it and keeping all us poultry lovers up to date and the great pics! Can't wait for mine to hatch out, about the 15th of June.

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  10. Try sticking your hand under a turker hen, they get real serious! but Ollie sounds like a sweet girl, at the end of the day, hopefully you'll be a Grandma several times over. :-)

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  11. Congratulations, Gramma! How neat!!! Yesterday I visited a friend whose banty had just hatched out 5 eggs! The peeps were so cute, and had their little leg feathers sticking out already! She was thrilled to pieces, and I was glad we were in the neighborhood to see them!

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