Friday, March 25, 2011

Farm Friend Friday--Peeps!

Tuesday night we heard the unmistakable sound of a peep! Adelka, the Buff Lace Poland, has been dutifully sitting on a dozen eggs and Wednesday morning a little one appeared from under her.

Peekaboo!

It's extremely rare for this breed to hatch their own chicks, and these are the first to be born on our farm, so it's pretty exciting! I bought an incubator for the task, but there was no need for it.

 Look at me!

By yesterday afternoon there were eight little balls of fluff!

Peeps!

I was hoping some of the offspring might be Karina's, but her untimely passing was 25 days before first hatch and chicken eggs hatch in 21 days, so I'm suspecting they are all Adelka's.

 Kryzsztof and gal

Prior to hatching, the father Kryzsztof had been moved into his own apartment, and has been steadily pacing around in his loneliness since. Today I carried him over to view them through the hardware cloth. His head shot up like a muppet in astonishment at seeing all his peeps, and Adelka gave a soft purr of contentment.

 Everyone eating from my hand

Today she let me handle the chicks, watching carefully to see that I was gentle with them and returned them to her. They were all eating out of my hand, so the co-parenting has begun! I like to be able to handle my adult chickens and for them to be gentle around people.

 Nap time (click to biggify!)

When she feels nap time is over she starts barking a repetitive sound and they all scurry out from underneath her fluffiness. She begins the tidbitting process until several are eating at the feeder. They all seemed happy to eat from my hand. When she feels they’ve had enough recess she emits a low growl and they all run back under her breast held up like a garage door. She uses her beak to tuck the last little cute tushie back underneath. Adelka is a great mom!

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20 comments:

Emily said...

That is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. We got a rooster by mistake last spring as a chick. We'd like to hatch some chicks, but we're worried about what the other hens and the rooster will do to the chicks. Is there reason to worry?

Jen said...

Ooooo they are so sweet & cute. Congratulations on your 1st hatch :)

Larkrise garden girl said...

Congratulations on your Peeps.Their beautiful! Cheri

Verde Farm said...

How beautiful and I absolutely love that picture of the chick under the wing. She is a gorgeous hen and they will be gorgeous chickens. :)

Nancy said...

We had a buff polish, Mozart, that I absolutely loved -- but he disappeared one day. Not sure what happened to him.

Love the fact your BP is hatching her own chicks. They are beautiful chickens. :)

Jill said...

What a beautiful post! Those are fantastic pictures. Love that last one.

colleen said...

Oh my goodness they are cute!

thecrazysheeplady said...

TOO CUTE! Great pics too. Love the face peeking out.

Anonymous said...

They are just the cutest little things!

Anonymous said...

The babies are so cute!! Your mama looks a bit like Phyllis Diller over at Laughing Orca. :)

Mary Ann said...

I have a lovely buff laced Polish hen, Buffy, but she has never tried to set. She is one of my favorites, though... and gives me a lovely white egg every other day. Those are some nice chicks!

Kateri said...

Thanks for the comments on my blog. For some reason I can't open blogs that have the "Shabby blog" or "Cutest blog on the block" apps. I have no idea why. (I got in this time by googling "Flowerweaver blog" and clicking on the the "cached version, text only".) Anyway, though I can't see the pictures, watching a mother hen with her chicks is pretty amazing! Two years ago, one of my california whites hatched out a clutch of adopted eggs and it was so much fun to watch her mother those chicks. I loved how she pushed the chicks gently around with her beak, getting everyone all tucked under her. It sounds like your hen is a great little mother, too!

NitWit1 said...

Cute little peeps--a bit early for Easter but what do they know about a calendar anyway?

AThe rooster is handsmen dude.

Jennifer said...

Aww, your chicks are adorable! Now I'm wishing I didn't have to cancel my order. I'll have to update at Folia - it's been too long!

Teresa said...

I'm amazed she hatched them. I've never had a polish go broody. They are just adorable! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Oh good lord..... are they CUTE or what?

Di

Anonymous said...

Where have you been??? We are missing you! :)

Unknown said...

CUTE!! just stumbled across you blog, very cute story and pics.

used to show chickens when i was younger just horses now though. still have a few ex factory chooks for eggs, i love my girls they always come for achat when i go in their pen. also have a little bantam family. mum, dad and a 8 week old chick. rooster fusses so over his family always watching out for the baby and guardng his girl. if he eve find something tasty he call thechick over to share it with him.

anyway check out my blog to

www.wildhorseproject.blogspot.com

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

That is so awesome! You're right about the Polish hens not known for being broody, too. Our Polish hen, Phyllis Diller has never been interested in hatching out chicks. She leaves the job to my Japanese Silky hen, Mrs. Cotton. Silkies tend to be super broody hens.

It's also amazing that all 8 eggs hatched out healthy chicks, too. Poor Mama won't be able to tuck all of them underneath her breast for very long. It's crazy how fast they grow. :)

Congrats!

~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

lol! I just saw DiBear's comment. She's right! Phyllis Diller and your hen could be sisters. hehe!

It will be interesting to see how many roosters you get out of the bunch. Sid Vicious (our golden laced bearded polish rooster) gave us two roosters and two hens. The roos reminded me of him....so they had to go. And we lost one hen during out -28F degree cold spell, but we still have the other hen, named Pat Benatar, who looks a lot like Sid Vicious, but is very sweet and funny.

~Lisa

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