Peep. x8

My goodness ... July seems to be the month of "new life" around this farm. Yes, usually one would think that spring season is when farm babies are born. But something wonky has happened around here. Seems that Mr. Rooster and all his hens got a bit randy and broody this past June. Check out what (or who) has been popping up around these parts ...

It all started when this nameless hen came out of the woods one day with 3 chicks stumbling behind her. Forgive me for not even noticing that she was gone (she had to have been laying on these eggs somewhere for 21 days) but we have several hens and her absence went unnoticed. So, when she came back home as a Mama, we were all shocked and bemused by her little chicken nuggets. So cute. Sadly, on of them past away ... but the other two are doing just great and living with Mom in and out of the goat barn.

Meanwhile, our always broody hen - RJ - had been laying on eggs for what seemed like forever. Several times we had to remove her from unfertilized eggs gone bad ... but she would just find more eggs to sit on and we didn't have the heart to take her off of her most recent clutch no matter how disbelieving we were that anything would ever hatch from underneath her. But ... she proved us wrong ... and only two days after we noticed the first set of summer chicks (shown above) ... we noticed that RJ had some special surprises of her own.

It all started with one ...

Which then lead to five ... all hearty survivors ...

And perhaps RJ would have hatched out more, but she abandoned the rest of the clutch in order to care for her 5 new babes. Soooo ...

our friend Tree decided to take over for her ...

And Tree's efforts paid off ... as she hatched out her very own chick the next day. And if I am right, I believe she will hatch a couple more out by the end of the week.

There you have it. Eight little peeps so far. Totally unexpected. Heck, I didn't even know our rooster was getting busy ... as he is as old and as tired as can be. But alas, we have several new members of our flock ... and some VERY doting and protective Mamas. And not just the feathered kind ... I find that I am out by the coop at all hours of the day ... making sure that the chicks are thriving, warm, fed, safe, etc ... and also enjoying all of their antics :)

I am sure there will be plenty more chick pics to come. They are so darn cute. ENJOY!

Love,

Jodi