We've had two bantam hens sitting on eggs. A couple weeks back I discovered we had viable eggs QUITE by unhappy mistake. I took the rest of the eggs back to the nest. Another batch came in from another nest where I knew the other hen was setting. They went back to the hen house too. About a week ago, we realized we had two little yellow fuzzy balls running around with one of the tiny black hens...two rather large fuzzy balls...omgosh! She hatched the Buff Orpington eggs!! The little gal above was still setting on her clutch. A couple days ago, this is what I found when I went out to check...there are 4 tiny chicks in the photo, but there were a total of 6 little bantam babies (we have two roosters and they don't interfere with each others' hens) beneath her!
Yesterday, one of the white eggs hatched, and we now have a tiny yellow chick in with the colorful ones. We're doing our level best to let Mothers and Mother Nature handle the situation, but we're prepared to intervene if we have problems.
There is some mystery to this whole thing... We had two little Buff chicks...then we only had one...that I could find. The next day, there were 2 again...then there was one... Now there are 2 again...one acting not as old nor as strong as the other chick. Mama tends to leave the littler one behind some...so we "help" it get where it needs to be to stay safe...like in the hen house with Mama! I didn't find any newly broken shells in the hen house, so I'm not sure where this new face came from! I'm sure it's a Buff baby...and it looks much younger than the other chick...and I wish I'd marked eggs way back when I took them back to their nest!! Note to self...next time...mark and date them!!
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