On Monday we went to see the chickens and Dancer. We have one adult rooster named Lavy and five little bantam chickens. Three of the bantam chickens are roosters. We also have two big hens named Cash and Debbie. We recently added two little Easter Egger chicks that we got from Tractor Supply. Debbie and Cash are both egg layers and Debbie usually doesn’t sit on her eggs but this time when I walked in she was sitting on a clutch!

When I first went into the coop I did not see Debbie but when I got closer I found her in the nesting boxes. Debbie was sitting on a nest of about 22 eggs. I did some research and learned that hens usually sit on 10 to 12 eggs.  Debbie was sitting on 22 eggs!  Seven of the eggs were Cash’s blue eggs and the rest were Debbie’s a reddish brown eggs. Cash isn’t brooding yet and doesn’t sit on her eggs. She hangs out with the bantams.

My mom had set out a bag of minnows, one of the chicken’s favorite treats, outside of the coop.  When we came back out of the coop, Lavy had made a huge hole in the bag (probably from his spurs) and was eating out of it.  Lavy is a light purplish color and is very protective over his ladies (hens) and he will chase you even if you have a stick of some sort.

Debbie got up once from her eggs when I tried to take some pictures. She got up to go get her food which was outside of the coop but she went right back to sit on the eggs again. This time she faced the wall so she couldn’t see anyone and so that she would be alone. This made me and my mom laugh out loud!

Debbie will be sitting on her eggs for a total of 21 days.  To hatch them she needs to keep the eggs the right temperature that ranges from 95 to 104 degrees. If the temperature gets below 80 degrees the eggs will not hatch. It makes me overall so happy to see that Debbie is sitting on her eggs and hopefully we will have baby chicks soon!

P.S. Dancer

After we went to see the chickens we got in the car and went over to the other side of the ranch where Dancer lives. When we pulled in I saw her out the window next to the oak tree she likes. My mom opened the garage so we could get all of her equipment like treats, food, Equispot, etc. When we pulled up in the field, Dancer was still under the tree next to her friends so I opened the back of my mom’s car and got out the treats, her food, and some brushes. I gave Dancer her food and tried to comb the parts of her hair that weren’t matted while my mom was putting the Equispot on her back and neck.  Dancer’s friends (aka the neighbor’s horses) came over and I gave them each a treat and some grass. I left the treat bag open when I was getting the grass and Dancer started to eat all of the treats right out of the bag!  So I closed it and later she picked it up and shook it around like crazy and I could tell she was having a good time!