New chick!

On my return from my holiday last week (did you miss me?!) I found one of my hens had hatched a wee chick.  I knew the hen had gone broody again (she's already got one from earlier in the years who is now big enough to fend for itself). But I clearly hadn't been counting the days (21 to be precise) so on my first morning out feeding them all I heard a wee cheep cheep noise.  The hen had been brooding up in the old hay manager so presumably the wee chick had to hurl itself to the ground - fortunately strewn with hay!  It was a very new chick so probably only born the day before - the hen seems to keep sitting on them for the first day.  The chick often doesn't need to feed for a day or two as it is ingesting the remains of the "yolk" etc.

This hen is a very good mother so I wasn't able to get too close to the chick without both getting quite flustered and I didn't want to upset either of them! The powdery stuff is crushed up hen food specially for the new chicks. Plus some grain for Mum.

On sunny days the hen brings the chick outdoors but on cooler days she keeps it safely within the barn, usually tucked safely underneath!

Now talking of eggs, which we were, sort of....  I found this rather larger than usual egg in one of the nests.  Bet that made the poor henny's eyes water laying THAT.