Whoa, Baby!

This is Little Brown Hen. She has been sitting on eggs hoping they'll hatch, for a long while. She took up residence on the back porch of our house, in Rover's dog house. (See the stripes of his rug!?) She's sitting on two little green eggs, cute as can be!

Every day we check on her, and Daisy checks on her too. (Daisy loves the chickens!) Every day, she's doing fine, but no babies yet.

Today when I came up from the barn from feeding, I was just about to step into the house when I heard PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEEEEEEP - the voice of a baby chicken! I couldn't believe it! Could it be that Little Brown Hen hatched a baby, and it was alive!?

I tipped up the top of the dog house she's in, but nothing. Just Little Brown hen, sitting on her two little green eggs. Then I heard it again PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEEEEEP! The sound was coming from the other dog house, the one we have set out for the outside cats to sleep in (do they sleep in it? noooooo...). The opening to the dog house faces the house, so I had to pull the house out onto the patio to see inside.

Whoa, BABY! Brown Manetta (she's a turken, and they have naked necks naturally) was sitting in there on a PILE of eggs! Alan and I didn't even know she was sitting! And PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEEEEEP, was right! Brown Manetta had hatched THREE babies - just this morning! Two little black turken babies, and a little white turken baby.

Since she was sitting in a "cat house" it had kitty bedding (some of Alan's old shirts) in it instead of hay, so I pulled out the shirts and placed nice fresh hay around Brown Manetta and her babies. I noticed one of the eggs she was sitting on had a little hole in it from where the baby (who was peeping loudly from inside the egg) had started to peck through, so I knew another baby was on it's way into the world.

A while later, I went out to check on things. Brown Manetta was as content as ever, little babies PEEP PEEP PEEEEEEPing from under her, and in front of her. I carefully lifted her belly a bit to check the status of the little peeping egg I noticed earlier. Yup! A new little black turken chick was there, wet from hatching, peeping away! And then I saw another baby... and another! WHOA!! SIX babies!? Brown Manetta, REALLY! 

There are three babies in this photo - do you see all three? (Hint: there are two black ones, and one white one in the photo.)

While I was counting babies, I noticed two MORE eggs were starting to hatch. One of them was nearly done! And to think ... we have MORE baby chickens on order from a hatchery, scheduled to arrive next WEEK!

PEEP!!

Comments

[Juanita]

Peep peep I see all three. Fantastic photos!
TFS.

[SWJC]

and here i thought turken was only a way to cook! ever have turducken? it does not appeal to me...i like things crispy!

was Manetta bred by a chicken or a turkey? maybe Little Brown was bred by a duck since her eggs are green. :)

Shala

[Angie]

Whoa! Talk about a busy farm! Have fun with all the new life popping (or peeping) up!

[karrie baker]

Holey Majoley!!! You are gonna have baby chicks EVERYWHERE!! LOL Fun, fun, fun!!! :)

[Jen Daloisio]

how cool! I can't wait to show my 2 year old in the AM (she's sleeping now)...We love reading about your animals!
ps- I know this is silly- but is a Turken a chicken/turkey mix? Never heard of that!
I've also wondered what you raise your cattle for - meat or milk?

[Diane Lapointe]

Oh I love visiting your blog lately,with all these babies on your farm!!! How sweet are these chickies!!!

[diane mcvey]

Mercy! That is awesome! I wonder if Manetta took some of Little Brown Hen's eggs for herself! LOL LBH is not going to have as many, but she will be very satisfied with herself nonetheless! Congrats on all the new little chicks, ladies! VERY FUN! :D

[Danielle]

Oh my gosh I just love chickens! I think I say that about every farm animal, but I can't help it! Don't even get me started on pigs! I suggested chickens to my husband but I got the look...the look of "what kind of stupid question is that" look. I have a small backyard in a suburban neighborhood and I guess they might get underfoot while the boys are playing...and then hubby would have to build a hen house, and I would have to gather eggs, and feed them, and worry about them. I might re-think this. Great pics! Way to go Brown Manetta!!

[Meredith]

Congrats on the new babies!!! ! and you should know....cats never sleep where you want them to....that would be too easy ;)

[Manetta Deggelman]

As namesake for all girl Turkins, all I can say is 'YEAH'!! How exciting and what a surprise! I hope Little Brown Hen gets hers soon. That had to be a hoot to watch you looking for where the peep was coming from! :-)
Take care and congrats to Brown Manetta!
Manetta

[Troy Louise]

Oh wow, do you have lots of new babies to tend to. Do the cats bother the baby chicks? Thanks for the sweet pictures.

[Jane R]

That is so neat!! There's always something exciting going on at a farm and new babies are the best excitement ever!
Congratulations!
Jane R

[Viv (VivLyn)]

Little Brown Hen is pretty color! You are having babies everywhere on the farm. Any baby donkeys yet? I pass by the sheep farm every day on my way to work and see the babies out of the barn eating grass and they are so cute!

[Carol]

How cute! I love reading your blog everyday.

[Barb Hardeman]

Wowza! You guys are in production heaven up there on the farm. How adorable those turken's (?) are. Brown Manetta looks exceeding smug with herself. Well the secret is out now....babies are everywhere... maybe Little Brown Hen will take the hint and have her babies soon! Such an inspiration for her in the Dog House Next Door! This is so much fun, I love visiting your farm everyday, and I don't even get my feet mucky!

[Tracye]

YEAH.....more names to pick out !!! Congrats on the baby chickens...you go Brown Manetta !!