It’s been very strange and empty feeling around here without Lucy, Schumann, and our Little Brown Hen. I am lost without my Lucy routine, it seems, and it breaks my heart that I look out into the flock and do not see Schumann. It seems like she should just be there.
This is part of life on the farm, of course, but I worry I may be getting worse at it. After Poe passed away in 2019, I would tougher for awhile. Nothing compared to that, so I could handle other losses around here. But, in the last few years, I have come to a deep understanding of chickens as animals, and this has made me fall in love with each and every one of them–even my mean, difficult girls, like Ruby. Last night, I was collecting eggs from under Joan, one of our last broody hens of the summer. Joan was fussing about it, pecking me a little, when all of a sudden I got a huge mean peck on the arm from someone else. I turned around to see who could be that mean as to walk up, get involved, and peck me. It was Ruby. That chicken!
Still, Ruby has my whole heart, doesn’t she?
I have been a little down and very tired after this week’s loss. I discovered both of Ruby’s babies from her hatch this summer are, in fact, boys. I have to try to find them a home this week, but I haven’t yet. I had to put up our last round of blueberries yesterday, and it took me forever, just because I am so slow right now. It was Ron who had the idea to cheer things up around here. He said, “There’s still time. If we have any broody hens left, put some eggs under her. We could use a few new hens.”
My mind immediately went to Petty. She is Mary Jane’s daughter and a sturdy, strong hen. Normally, you would not want a baby chick from a meat bird like Mary Jane, but Mary Jane was nearly four years old and still laying when I decided to hatch an egg from her. I figured she was doing pretty well. As Mary Jane is now in her seventh summer with us, I am thankful we have Petty.
Petty is about three years old and just went broody for the first time this summer. I don’t know her very well. She blends in with the flock and just kind of lays low, but Joan is the only other hen who is still broody–and she’s been coming out of it in the last week. I see her out and about a little more each day. So it had to be Petty. Plus, I would love to get know her better. After all, she is Mary Jane’s daughter. She looks just like her too, only smaller. Petty is still a big girl though; when I picked her up to take her to the crate in the garage, I noticed she was a chunk.
At first, she didn’t want to stay in the crate and was upset. Sometimes, the move from the nest box to a crate in the garage can been challenging for broody hens. I’m used to Ruby now though, who just knows the drill and gets to work. Petty was upset in the first few hours, and I worried she might not be able to do it. I gave her lots of eggs though and kept showing her the eggs.
Finally, I told myself I was going to give her just one more hour in the crate. If she still wanted out, I would let her out, but I took her two more eggs, showed them to her, and put them under her. I could tell, somehow, by the way she looked at the eggs that we were going to be all set. And I was right!
Petty is now sitting on like 10 eggs, and she’s doing great! I don’t even know for sure what all eggs I grabbed. There’s a Silver egg, a Juliet egg, a Saint Saens egg, and I got a Ruby egg too. That may be a mistake, but it will be part Dvorak, who has a pretty chill personality. Maybe that will tone down Ruby’s genes. But I am not sure what else is out there. I just grabbed beautiful eggs and said to myself “let’s see what happens.” Hopefully, we will have a good hatch, and our little farm won’t seem so melancholy like it does right now.
Surely, this is one way to mend a broken chicken mama’s heart. I candle next week. I’ll keep you posted!
Yes to the baby chicks! This will certainly help Crystal. I will be waiting to hear the progress.