Category: chickens (Page 4 of 11)

Just recently, Sue came briskly walking up to the house, which usually means something’s wrong on the homestead. I braced myself and went out to meet her and asked her what was wrong. But what ended up being “wrong”, or at least of some immediate attention, was that she discovered a chicken mommy in the barn loft with a whole batch of chicks with her! Near the edge of the loft too, which is probably 10 feet off the ground! Wow!

Here’s a picture of the stairs going up to the loft — she made her nest way in the back corner there by the buckets:

We went up there, and sure enough — a bunch of them! They had at least moved away from the edge, and so we grabbed mama and put her in a cage for the moment, and then gathered up her little ones into a pet carrier, and put them all into the brooder barn (formerly the summer kitchen).

And here they are now! We believe there are 15, and it appears the hen hatched out all the eggs that were under her. She must have just been dropping eggs into her nest herself, and then did the sitting. This mother is a good one too — very often broody:

And here’s their video:

We are very thankful to the Lord for this unexpected gift to start this 2020, and for the safe hatching, and that He had mama set on the nest in the barn! We pray they are used for His glory in some way, and the benefit of the homestead and others, as He wills!

— David

Catching up on the 2019 chicks the Lord has graciously granted, here are the last hatchings of this 2019 — 7th, 8th, and 9th!

Here’s group 7, 5 hatched, 5 still alive!

And group 8, 6 hatched, and all 6 doing well!

And group 9, 3 hatched and 3 still going today! This group started in one of the barn horizontal purlins, and moved her and her eggs into this room in the brooder building:

And here’s the video of all 3 groups:

As always, we are very thankful to God for granting these provisions. May we remember these are gifts from Him for our use, not ownership, and that He is always Lord over all!

— David

The Lord again graciously granted another set of chicks to be hatched out this 2019, 6th for the year — 10 from a very protective mommy hen! And all 10 are still going today.

Here are a couple of pictures:

And here’s their video, including mama attempting to send me packing after I had to collect one of her chicks from outside the cage area! 😀

As always, we thank God for these little gifts, and the continued provisions, and we pray for their continued health and safety, according to His will!

— David

The Lord graciously granted another set of chicks to be hatched out this 2019 — number 5 for the year!

This mama was hatched out herself late last year as part of a surprise set of chicks, and so was sitting what seems to be pretty early for her, but we’ll take it! 😀

She hatched out 10, and all 10 are still doing well today!

Here they are not long after entering the world:

And here’s their video:

We are always thankful to God for granting these provisions! It is our prayer that He guide us in the use of them, and in all things spiritual and temporal, for His glory and the benefit of others!

— David

The Lord graciously granted another couple of chicken hens go broody this 2019, and here are the results!

This mama hatched out 8 as our 3rd group this year, and all 8 are still going strong, thanks to God. I’m guessing all the eggs under her were hers as every chick basically looks like her…I don’t remember something like this happening for us before. 🙂

And this mama hatched out our 4th group this year, 9 this time, and all 9 are still alive and healthy too!

And here is their video:

As always, we are thankful to the Lord for His continued provisions. May we look to Him for ALL things, in every spiritual and temporal matter!

— David

The Lord graciously granted another hen to go broody this 2019, and graciously allowed 7 new chicks to be hatched out!

All are still doing well and continue to grow…

And here’s their video:

We try to never take these things for granted, nor anything for that matter, and we are very thankful to God for granting these new farm provisions!

— David

We recently had one of our young hens from last year go broody early this year. Usually if they go broody late in the year or during winter, we just pull the eggs so we don’t have to deal with trying to keep a place warm for new chicks during very cold weather.

But I decided to let her go this year, and she hatched out 7 new chicks! And they are all still alive today and doing well, thanks to the Lord!

We did run the heater in the summer kitchen a couple of nights where they were when it got down to 20 degrees F outside, and it all worked out just fine.

On an aside, this mama had a pal hen that was part of the clutch she came from, and these two hung around together. Her friend was white colored, and I called her Nilli (for Vanilla). And so with this one being grey, and them being friends, I call her Granoli (for grey-Nilli 😀 ). Sadly though, Nilli was killed by a predator late last year, but God is granting her friend make up for her loss with the new chicks. 🙂

And here they are:

And here’s their video:

We are very grateful to God for His graciousness in granting these new chicks! We pray they, and our entire homestead and community, are used by Him for His glory and the benefit of others!

— David