The First Hatching

Our first batch of incubator chicks have started to hatch.  These are Ringneck Pheasants from the ones we either purchased as chicks or incubated last year.    I'm trying to upload the video of one hatching out of the egg (a process that takes up to a day) but blogger is being a pain.  So, you'll have to head over to my facebook fan page to get a peek at the video itself.

This is what the Roosters will look like when they're mature.

And, in true Circle of Life, Farm fashion - the above rooster is now all cleaned and packed up and in the freezer to be a tasty meal one night. I've only eaten wild pheasant up until this point, so it'll be interesting to see the taste difference in the wild vs hand raised. 

Who wants to come over for dinner?

Babies for Fluffy

A few weeks ago one of our hens started getting really broody.  She would protectively guard the eggs when I would go to collect them each day. Now, it wouldn't do her any good to guard those eggs, because we don't keep a rooster around.

This may sound silly, but I related her plight to those of many of my friends who have struggled to have kids and couldn't.  Here was a hen who wanted nothing more than to sit on a nest for weeks on end and have some cute little babies to tend and raise and tend.

So, I put an ad on Craigslist to see if anyone had some fertilized eggs that my little Fluffy could sit upon.  I got one response and picked up 5 eggs from her a few days later.

For three weeks Fluffy sat patiently in her little nest (we isolated her from the other hens), and kept those little eggs at just the right temperature. Yesterday we moved her cage/nest and set her up with her own private yard so the big hens wouldn't attack the babies when they hatched and I saw one cute baby fluffy face poking out from under the big fluffy chicken.

Today we head out to feed the chickens their scratch for their evening treat and out pops Fluffy with four little fluffy chicks following her.  It was amazing to watch her teach them how to scratch and eat, and she talked to them the entire time.

Then she climbed back into her nest and called and encouraged her little babies to hop into bed.  They listen a whole lot better than my kids! Soon they all hopped up into the nest and burrowed under the covers (mom) and settled down for the night.

We've been hatching eggs for awhile, but there's something just heartwarming about seeing nature at work - even if she is the adopted mother to those chicks. 

Now I truly understand the meaning of the phrase "Mother Hen"

Lessons from the Quail

My husband and I have started to raise Quail. Ok, my husband and his father were talking about how raising quail and pheseants and then he sheepishly asked my "permission" to start a new hobby. Seeing how giddy it made him, we now have an incubator in our laundry room.

Watching the birds hatch was amazing. Our kids loved the opportunity to watch the tiny baby birds being born. They were surprised and just how long it took for the babies to peck their way through the fragile shell and wanted to help some of them who were struggling.

I had to explain to my kids that a Mama Bird cannot help the chick out of the egg by cracking the shell because it will kill the chick. The strength that is developed by cracking out of the shell is required in order to live and grow up into an adult. The mother hen will often peck at the shell to let the chick know that she’s there, and chirp and encourage the chick – but doing any of the work will actually weaken the chick.

It got me thinking about each of us in our lives. We all have challenges that we wish someone would crack for us and make easier. However, it is by going through these challenges that we become stronger and ready to face the life ahead of us.