I just adore this time of year, when the hens start setting and hatch out little peepin' balls of fluff! It's fun to hatch them in the house in the incubator, but really, there's nothing like seeing them "wild." We currently have fields of hay around us, and the chickens LOVE it--safety, to hide from hawks and owls. The momma in this picture was hard to catch on film because every time she saw me, she ran for the fields. But I finally slipped up on her nest. She has about 8 babies. Now today, another hen hatched out just one or two eggs, and she and the chicks are missing in the barn--we hear the babies peeping, we just can't locate them!
Katie told me it is time for her to have another chick--that means, basically, as a pet. In the past, she has...oh, I've got to say it...taken it under her wing! (ssshhh-boom). The darn chick will start following her around the yard and will even leap the brick steps to follow her in the house! Yes, in the house. I have LOTS of photos of Katie with the latest chick in the house.
Here's the background: when Katie was 3 years old, we went to the Elberta Sausage Festival. They had a petting zoo, and being animal lovers, we took her to it. There were goats, rabbits, others, I don't even remember, because the only animal she had ANY interest in was the little black banty rooster!!! She caught him, carried him around petting him like he was a cat, putting him down on a bail of hay, picking him back up, talking to him. It was wild! Natural born "chicken whisperer"! So we got chickens, and now, we have a huge flock, all free-range, we sell eggs, all because this little girl fell in love with chickens at a petting zoo! It's a major chunk of our family history. Gotta love it.
