Babies!

Out of a thorny patch of agarita bushes a hen came, trailing a small brood of four chicks. She's been missing since the night of the big windstorm and we thought she was lost forever, a victim of hungry coyotes or something.

Nope. She's been sitting on a nest somewhere, probably in that same patch of bushes. It's a dense pile of scrub not 20 yards from the house where she's undoubtedly been all this time. When she's in there you can't hardly see her, even though she is light cream-colored. It's very dense and thorny.

Our other broody hen is about a week late from hatching and is probably sitting on a clutch of bad eggs. I'm not sure what that deal was but we're on about day 27 and still no sign of chicks from her. This other batch is just a bonus brood.

In all of our years of raising chickens we've never had a successful brood. Something bad always happened to them. They've never gotten to this state. This is a first and a blessing from God.

I have decided not to intervene in this. I could not build her a shelter as safe and secure as the thorny patch she's found for herself and strangely enough, here in the wilderness hinterland we do not have the predator problems with chickens that we did up in Illinois in what was little more than a countrified suburb. We've put down some water and food for her and her brood and she's directing her little babies to eat. My biggest concern is that they might not find water that's easy for them to drink out of so we took the waterer from our old brooder box and put that out for them. It's small and other chickens will drink out of it so we'll have to refill it a half-dozen times per day. A pain.

Anyway, I'm thrilled beyond belief at this development. What a blessing from God!