Blossom Time

I know, I know.  It's mid July.  But the Blossom I'm speaking of is a hen.

In my last post, I ended that I was hoping for another batch of chicks.  It is exactly a year ago today that the last batch began hatching out.  So Happy Birthday to Josephine and Starlight, the last surviving members of those chicks.

Two days ago, when I went to close up the hen house for the night, I was one hen shy.  I knew right where to look.  There is another shed in their yard where they like to lay eggs, and sure enough, there was Blossom sitting on eggs and acting all puffy and cranky.

But still I wasn't sure.  Because Blossom always acts broody whether she's on the roost at night, walking around the yard or laying an egg.  She's perpetually fluffed up and walks around making herself look as big as possible with her tail feathers all spread out, screeching at anyone who comes near.  It's what she does.  And I've often wondered why she's been this way for about 4 months.

She's fooled me before.  She can sit for an hour or two on a nest, but she's always on the roost at night.  It gave me hope that she hadn't joined the flock at sunset.

I felt under her.  Hmm.  Only two eggs.  That meant she'd been there most of the day, because that is the vehicle of choice for most of my flock--an old wooden box, on an upper shelf.  I usually get between 4 to 5 eggs in that one spot alone every day.

I went back to the hen house and retrieved 5 more good sized eggs from the clutch I had let build up there, and tucked them in around her.  I wanted to see if she would tuck them in under her, but she didn't seem interested.

"That's okay, Blossom.  If you're broody, that's wonderful and I will look after you when you need me.  And if you're not that's okay too.  You can have these eggs if you want, and if not, I'll take them away in the morning."  I went away for the night keeping my fingers crossed that this was really a broody hen and not just a moody one.

That was Thursday--day one.

On day two--Friday, I had some running around to do and so I was away from home until almost 2:30 that afternoon.  I walked into the shed to check on Blossom and it was like an oven in there.  I went out immediately and got a couple of bath towels still wet from the laundry and wrapped them loosely around her wooden box.  The air instantly felt cooler.  I topped off her water, gave her a handful of greens, and left her alone.

That night, she was still on the nest, so I removed the towels, which were still damp.

Day Three--Saturday, July 15th:

As midday approached it began heating up, so I went out with fresh wet towels, only to find an empty nest.  The shed was already very warm and the eggs were feeling as if they had moments before come straight out of the chicken.  I stashed the towels on a nearby tree and decided to check back in 30 minutes.  It made me smile to see Sparky perch himself on the opposite shelf to keep an eye on the wooden box/nest while Blossom was away.

I noticed there were a lot more eggs than I thought there should be, and realized after counting 11 eggs that someone was continuing to use this box when she was stepping out.  I wanted to remove a couple of them, but had no idea which were the newest eggs.  I promised myself, I would try to keep a closer eye on things between 10 and noon from now on, to discourage more laying in that box.

When I went back to check 30 minutes later, there she was snuggled in her box, so I wrapped it in wet towels again.  It's amazing how effective evaporation is at cooling the air.  It felt like a subtle, cool breeze had suddenly come into that space.

I always love this business of hens hatching out chicks.  I wouldn't dream of having an incubator.  It would take all the magic out of it.  I pray that Blossom will be a good mom.  At least that she'll last through the hatching process and hopefully that she'll want to stay with them and teach them, like Ruby did.  Flora missed that part of it last year.  She barely lasted to the end, and ran out of patience before they were more than a few days old.  I was able to coax her to sit on them at night for a few more nights, but after that she was done.  Fortunately, it was summer and the weather was warm.  They were hardy and had a safe place to snuggle together at night.  Of six, one was killed by a chicken, another by a hawk and one was dwarfed and died a couple of months later.  The final three were Josephine, Starlight and Crown.

Crown was a beauty.  I tried to find him a home, but had no takers.  Then he was blinded by Sparky and I kept him for about three months after that hoping he would somehow recover the sight in one eye which seemed undamaged.  I finally had to let him go, and felt just awful about it.  Birds have such amazing eyes that a blind bird doesn't seem to be able to adapt.  I worked with Crown and sometimes for a moment, it would seem that his eye would respond, but eventually I just had to give in and say goodbye, even though it broke my heart.

Now, here we are again.  Hatching time.  Anything can happen.  It's pure potential.  Pure magic.