Potentials

Ruby with chicks (3 days old)

The chicks are just over a week old now.  Their wings have gone from fuzz to fully feathered and they are growing their tail feathers.  They even have their little micro combs along their foreheads.

Two rose buds broke off in the storm we had, right after I posted my last post.  Six rose buds.  Six chicks hatched out.  One didn't live, after hatching out.  Interesting how Nature reflects the world around us.

Ruby with chicks (1 week)

I feel really lucky to have the five.  They're hale and hearty, and growing fast.  Ruby is a dream mama hen.  She is a hybrid (sex link) and I got her from a local organic egg farm, along with 3 other pullets, nearly 18 months ago.  I really wasn't sure if her broody instincts would remain intact due to her lineage, or even if she'd be a good mom.  But she proved herself to be an ace on both counts.

My rooster is a barred rock.  Getting chicks from him, has increased his stock considerably with me.  Before this, I pretty much thought of him as that crazy rooster, that keeps attacking me when ever I go near the hen house.  More a pain in the butt than anything else.  But now, I see him in a whole new light.  And perhaps he senses my new found appreciation for him.  He seems gentler and less inclined to show me his spurs. (Or maybe he's just cold.)

A little over a week ago the potential for 10 hatchlings existed.  Move forward in time, and 5 chicks have joined us in our world.  Now the potential is whether they will grow up to be hens or roosters...or whether they will grow up at all.  I know what I'd like to happen.  I'd like to have 5 more healthy hens, who in turn may become mamas themselves.  But only time will tell.

Welcome to the flock, Peepers.  I'm so glad you're here.