CHICKENS?!

What do we have? Chickens! Twenty-some of them!

Here is a picture of my three hens sharing eggs to hatch. The brown one is Mama-Cup. She's a Buttercup who started the whole setting thing. The white one is Mama-Velder. She's a Lakenvelder who decided to help out. And, the one in back is Lana. She's supposed to be a Dominique. She has two sisters so I decided to give them can-can dancer names. However, I think she's NOT a Dominique because of the way she looks. I think she's a Barred Rock from the description in chicken catalogs.

This was a really fun thing to see! My hubby thought it was funny. The people at work were pretty amused at the sight of this picture (which is my desktop background).

No eggs hatched from the efforts of these three. There was a little bit of a problem one night. It seems something came in and ate 4 of the 5 eggs I marked so I would know which were being set upon. It must've been a snake. My chickens are pretty spaced-out when they set, so not much bothers them. A snake could've slithered into the nest easily and done the deed at night. The last egg was not fertile.

The other problem we had was Lana wasn't feeling too well. I think she just wanted to be near the some chickens. She passed away shortly after this picture was taken. I think she was egg-bound. That would not be the way I'd want to go. Sadly, that ends the life of some chickens.

Happy chicken farming to those of you who do!