Chicky Chicky's!!

After having chickens for a few years I've decided that it would be easier and more efficient if I could get some of my hens to sit on eggs and hatch them.  However, how do you really get a chicken to sit on eggs if she doesn't want to?  This is a question that I've been pondering trying to figure out what to do because I really didn't want to raise chicks again and have to deal with the heat lamp and the treated water and then the introductions into the main flock. I've had a couple hens that in the past have managed to hatch 1 chick and it was so much easier to just let mom take care of them and show them the 'ropes'.

So anyhow, a couple weeks ago, i noticed that I was missing 2 hens. I figured one of two things has happened-they are sitting on eggs somewhere or they became someones dinner.  Well, I started looking around and found 1 of the hens and sure enough, she was sitting on 15eggs!!!  

I was concerned with where she was sitting on them at and if they would live long once they started to hatch due to the cats around here. We tried to move her but that made her very upset and she refused to sit back on the eggs so we ended up putting her back-this made her very happy and she settled right back down to sitting on those eggs. Oh, while handling the eggs, we placed them over a flashlight to see which ones were fertile-12 of them were so we put only those ones back.

   Here is mommy, the girl's call her Firework.  She herself was hatched back here a little over a year ago-she is following in her mother's foot prints.

   She has herself quite a very nice nest tucked back under the brush and garbage. Its quite protected from the weather and out of the direct sun. I think she knew what she was doing when she picked this spot.

  Well, today like any other day, I went out to check on Firework and her eggs.  YES!!  They were starting to hatch!!   1 chick fully hatched and 3 more working on it!!

 Chicky number 2

 and chick's 3 and 4!

  This here is the daddy.  Between his coloring and the moms, I can't wait to see what these birds will look like!!