...And Early Chick Comes into the World!

Early in the afternoon I excitedly tipped toed outside to check on the progress EE 1 egg was making. When I felt underneath Lemon, I knew something was different, I couldn't find the egg! So I lifted Lemon up slightly and saw a little round fluffy butt huddled underneath chirping. I gently scooped the precious chick up from the nest and put him on eye level and made a regular chicken cluck, then hid him under my shirt and brought him inside. 

I quickly prepared a brooder and placed the chickie inside with a fleece blanket for snuggling (I'll be taking care of the chick for now, when the other eggs hatch I may leave two or one with Lemon if she doesn't attack them). It took me a while to name the little gut. My cousin really wanted the name Earl but to me the name didn't exactly fit. We created a large list of names, but in the end I settled with the name Early. The name made sense because chickie was the first born out of the eggs and he did come out earlier than I had expected, so Early he was!

Just look at those adorable fuzzy cheeks!! I've always wanted an Easter Egger with muffs!

Tired after a while night zipping outta that shell!

I managed to dig out the remains of the hatching from Lemon's nest. You can from the recceeded veins that Early had a healthy hatch, where all the blood has already been absorbed before coming out of the shell. Also notice that yellowish spongy stuff in the back, that's where the waste that the chick produces while inside the egg is stored and left behind when they pop out of their shells.

We all assume that Early isa "he" because of the large comb he bears from birth. I hope he's not a rooster because if he is, then I will probably sadly have to re-home him. 

Here in this picture down below, you can see that Early does have a pretty big comb at such a young age. So far, I believe there is still hope that he is just a pullet born with a big comb. I will wait and see.

It was pretty easy for me to teach him how to drink, but for him to start eating, I had to cluck and tap the chick feed repeatedly until Early understood my message.

In the meanwhile, the rest of the eggs under Lemon and in the incubator have around 3 more days until lock down. I hope the seramas hatch this time!

Pip!

Quite a few things have happened. . .

I went back to Common Ground and got 6 new eggs. I put 3 under Lemon and 3 in my incubator, the one blue egg in my incubator was not fertile and two brown eggs underneath Lemon were discarded as well, leaving 2 eggs with Lemon (including an older EE egg which I call "EE 1" and the new Easter Egger egg, "Blue Egg 2") and two brown eggs in my bator.

The last 2 blue eggs together (Lemon's taking a break outside).

EE 1 is older than the rest of the Common Ground eggs by a week and today is day 21 for "it". And the egg has started pipping though the shell and is chirping!

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Yesterday when I candled/checked on the egg and put it to my ear, I could hear tapping. Surprised, I tapped back, and the chick inside replied by tapping. After candling I also found out that it had already pipped internally! The chick had started getting to work and in a few hours later the chick started chirping inside the egg. 

This morning around 7:30 a.m., I saw the external pip for the first time.

Day 20- chick has already internally pipped and is chirping and pecking its way out of the egg 

Day 21 (around 7:30 a.m.)- The chick has pipped externally!

A Rest From It All...

Brooding in a nest full of eggs must be pretty energy consuming and a great bore to a broody hen. While the rest of the flock are enjoying the day, eating corn scraps, a broody hen has to stay put in her nest and incubate her eggs.

Once in a while even I will catch Lemon dozing off with a nod to her head.

Now doesn't she look like such a dear. . .

Sometimes sharing the coop can be challenging with constant prying eyes and loud noisy neighbors. Lemon is a bit perturbed of this. 

Don't Spice and Lemon look like broody buddies! (Actually Spice is only visiting the nesting box to lay her egg, but she does give a great broody impression)

Every now and then, Lemon takes a break from it all. So she jumps down from the coop with a loud proud squawk, ruffles her feathers, and is a chicken on a mission to the feeders. After eating, she then enjoys dust bathing with the rest of the flock.
One of her favorite thing to do is perch in the new perch I put in the chicken enclosure. Lemon just enjoys sitting there and preening.

One time I let Lemon outside for a bit to enjoy the grass and bugs, she found great joy in perching on the lawn chairs as well.

Lemon decides to hop higher with a great big flap.

Taking a sunbath before heading back to the coop.

After she's done with all her business, Lemon returns to the coop. When she enters her nest, she murmurs softly to her eggs while gently maneuvering around the eggs until she is facing out of the box. Than she settles down with a shake of her body.

Here's a video of her settling into the nesting box:

Oh Dear Oh Dear Miss Lemon

I always love hearing the gentle grumblings of moody broody hens when I check for eggs in the coop. It's funny to see them poofed up in their dazed eyes.
Our silly White Leghorn hen, Lemon has been broody for a few days now, never abandoning her nest. So I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to slip 5 mix-breed chicken eggs I got from Common Ground (3 blue eggs and 2 brown eggs) underneath her. She accepted the eggs and gently scooped them underneath herself when I was gone; I could her her moving around inside the nesting box.

The eggs I gave Lemon are over a week old so I I'm not sure if they are still be viable. So far, 1 blue egg ( an Easter Egger egg) and 2 brown eggs have nothing inside them; seems like they were infertile. I also accidentally cracked an egg that I thought had nothing inside. It turns out that there was an alive growing embryo! 
After that warning, I returned the last blue egg to broody Lemon who grumbled in complaint for disturbing her. I may go back next weekend to get some more fresher eggs, just in case this one doesn't hatch. 

Broody? Or Sham-broody?

Lemon has started acting weirdly lately.

Whenever I pay a visit to the ladies, Lemon seems to sulk and make deranged clucking noises. If I even move or come near her, she erupts in a hysteria of strange clucking; walking around fluffed up a bit in a wary mode.

She reminds me very much of broody Butter from my previous flock. When Butter was broody, she strutted around the whole chicken fence making the same clucking noises Lemon was, with feathers up and wing drooping low to the ground. She was a crazy broody but a good mother and I still miss her "crazy broody mode". She never bit me when I checked the eggs underneath her, only made complaints.

Here she is, a bit upset since I locked her out of the coop.

(Butter is actually growling at the camera, not me)

I dismissed the fact the Lemon could be broody. It simply wasn't very likely in Leghorns since they were bred for egg production, and most of their broodiness was probably bred out of the breed.

But Lemon still continued to make weird clucking noises and strut around day on and day out. At dusk when the flock went to roost, and I to close the coop door.....Lemon still glared at me, ruffling up her feathers with a disgruntled expression. Charcoal, Spice, and Lime softly clucked to reassure her.

 I locked the door and whispered goodnight to the chickens.

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One day, I looked outside and didn't see Lemon. Where could she have gone?

She wasn't in the outside nesting box.

 Nor the old doghouse where the ladies held their secret meetings.

So finally I checked the coop, and snugly fitted inside one of the nesting boxes was Lemon. She grumbled at me and raised her hackles.

I left her alone and wondered.
Lemon could be broody, but I would give her a few more days and see. I know that a lot of hens get "broody" (or sham-broody)only to walk off their nest after two or three days of boredom in the coop.

Being broody does have its high points, and I was planning on incubating some eggs from Common Ground.

But who knows, does Lemon have the determination to brood a nest full of eggs?
In the meanwhile, the rest of the chickens are still going only their daily lives, tilling the earth and searching for worms while Lemon lies bedridden in the coop; full of broodiness.

Fruitful Summer

The wild blackberries in my backyard have finally ripened in to a dark maroon hue. Knowing how much the chickens love fruit I shared the bounty with them.

Some of the berries are ready to be picked.

It's funny to see the reactions of the chickens as I walk to the door. 

First they crowd the entrance, with Charcoal sticking out her head once in a while trying to get a bite first.

As soon as Lemon gets a piece, everyone centers their attention on her and the chase begins. But since the blackberries are so small, Lemon simply gulps it down in one bite. I think that the rest of the flock seems a bit disappointed. I've noticed that since they were chicks, the food chase was kind of like a game. When one chick finds a bug or fruit, they have the choice to eat it in secrecy, but sometimes instead she will emit a small short chirping sound and run toward the flock. The other chicks will catch sight of the tasty treat and run to steal tiny morsel from the finder. Lasting in a second long chase.

When nothing is left, they stare expectantly, looking for moooooore treats. Mrs.Wattlecomb (Lemon) gives me a piercing glare of disgust and with a shake of her head she struts away.

Eventually thee others  lose interest and they too, walk away to get a drink of water. The exception is Charcoal, who's always looking for a lap to sit in. Well not today Charcoal, try again tomorrow.

The Ladybug Cycle

This summer I've been finding a bunch of ladybugs, EVERYWHERE. One day while I was checking the nesting box for eggs, I spotted a newly emerged ladybug in the netting nearby. But when I got a closer look, I discovered that this ladybug was peculiarly colored. She wasn't the usual: bright red or orange lady bug with black dots all over. This ladybug was a dark tan color with a multiple black dots but each black dot was surrounded by a circle of white! Now I've seen an all black lady bug with white spots before at the beach (or maybe it was the other way around...it was a long time ago...), but not this kind. It was the first time I had found such a ladybug, and upon further research, I found that she was an Eye-spotted Lady Beetle (or bug). The black dots enclosed by the white circles were supposed to be copying a predators "eyes", and make a bird or another predator less willing to eat it.

One wing was missing for some reason, but it looked like it had been ripped off (maybe accidentally as she was getting out of its pupa). I observed her in awe, then set the pretty little lady on a newly planted apple tree. I checked back everyday, and she was still there and thriving, although on the fourth day she was no longer on the tree.

Happily lazing away.

But, a few days later I found a ladybug larva, which turned into a pupa the next day. Surprisingly it was white! I suspected it would be another Eye-spotted Ladybug since it was near where I found the first lady beetle.
I also found another white pupa yesterday when feeding the chickens a plant of some sort with a thick stalk. The flock loved it, but it took me a while to see the pupa, luckily it was not pecked by the curiosity of the chickens. Off to the insect jar they go...

Here in this picture, the larva has just turned into a pupa. It was still soft, and I found that after it hardened, it was all white with black markings.

The white pupa I found on the plant stalk. This is a good example of an already hardened pupa, it kind of looks like it has a face to me (reminds me of a Capuchin monkey).

Afterwards, I fed the chickens the tender plant stalk (which I brought inside when I removed the pupa) they were craving.

The BIG plant stalk. (You can see the chickens pacing impatiently in the background)

Who will take a bite first?

In the end the white pupa ended up turning into another Eye-spotted Ladybug which I later released when her shell dried.

Having only emerged a few minutes ago, the ladybug's spots quickly become more and more visible.