mama chick

I had forgotten to mention that shortly after I came back from Miami, I found out one of our chickens had been hiding some eggs and had a few of them hatch! I would never have known about it except that I followed the sounds of her screeching and came across a showdown between her and Shady. Of course Shady promptly showed me his belly as if that would make me forget I had heard anything, (how could anyone that darn cute be so bad?), and to my surprise, a little chick took the reprieve to run out of his hiding place to the mama chick. Turns out there were 3 of them. I'm really hoping that there were only 3 of them and that Shady didn't get one of them. There was a really small one that didn't make it. We aren't sure if he/she got attacked by a rooster or what. The boys buried her in the flower garden.

The other 2 are doing well, and are cute as hell. I love watching them in the yard. It was amazing to see how she taught them to eat and drink, and what a great protector she has been. They are living in the sauna at the moment because it is the only place I can think of where they can be protected from predators AND the other hens and roosters that harass them. I would love a whole yard of hens and chicks running around. As of yesterday, there are 4 more hens nesting, with about a dozen total eggs. In a couple of weeks, we should have more babies! Very exciting.

Here is how they sleep at night! When it's warmer out, I guess the back serves as a fine roost!