It Takes a Coop to Raise Chicks

Patriots Day at First Baptist.  Trinity was honored for his service.

We all know Hillary Clinton's book, It Takes a Village.  Life always goes better for adults and children to have loving, caring, and helpful people around them.  That is one of the main reasons I practically moved heaven and earth so my first daughter, Bridget, would live just one house from me and raise my beautiful grandchildren right in my line of sight.  It is true, that I can sit on the sofa in the living room and watch TV and keep an eye on her house.  Many nights I have seen something that sent me flying out the front door to check things out.  Not to be confessing that I sit on the sofa all the time watching TV.  There are windows in 6 rooms from which I can observe "the little family's house."  And yes, I often refer to them as "the little family."
Thank goodness, for my sake, I have never encountered something that I couldn't handle.  But they know that I am right down the street ready to be called into action.

Well, my idea for this blog was not to write about "the little family."  As the title would suggest, this post is about something going on in one of the chicken coops.  If you read the previous post about Little Ace, you know she is endeavoring to hatch 7 eggs.  This is very hard on a hen.  The eggs have to be kept warm 24 hours for 21 days.  She would have to sit for 21 days, only if, all the eggs started on the same day.  That is not true with these eggs.  I figure there could be a 5 day span.  But since this process started before I understood what was going on, I really don't know the hatching date.  Little Ace started brooding April 15, but someone pecked holes in 2 eggs, so I don't know if there will be one hatching tomorrow or not.  But it is Friday, so "the little family" and I will take flashlights out again tomorrow night and while Little Ace is asleep, we will look inside the eggs.  But hopefully, there will be at least one little peeping chick.  I've already gone out twice today and put my ear to the nesting box to listen for peeps.  I guess I'm just practicing.

Back to what a tough process this is on Little Ace.  When does she eat, drink or go to the bathroom?  Actually, I put food and water right up next to her.  But yesterday, I decided to open the door to the coop and let Cracker out.  Cracker is the only hen that I let stay in that coop with Little Ace.  The other 3 hens and Mr. Rooster are living in the other coop.  Much to my surprise, Cracker and Little Ace hopped out.  That's okay, I read that sometimes the hen will leave the nest for just a minute to take care of her needs.  So I went back into the house. 

Cracker was just posing for the picture.  I lost the real one.

 After about an hour and a half, I went back out to the coup and was shocked to see Little Ace wandering around and scratching in the dirt, like she didn't have 7 eggs to keep warm.  But then I noticed that Cracker wasn't out.  I looked in the nesting box and there was Cracker egg-sitting. Of course, when I looked in, Little Ace went back in to her nest. 

Little Ace has her feathers ruffled.  I'm annoying her.

  She doesn't want me to think she is a bad mother.   They did the same thing today.  So we humans may not have invented  "Mother's Day Out."  Even hens are smart and caring enough to help each other out.  But of course that is sweet little Cracker.  Nasty Omelet would have been in there pecking holes in the eggs.  And to think 5 of the eggs are Omelet's.  None of them are Cracker's or Little Ace's.  Come to think of it, the concept of surrogate mothers may have originated from hens.  I'll keep you posted. In the next few days, we will have either chicks or rotten eggs.