Hatching chicks, young chicks, retiring chicks, and dying chick

Living on a farm teaches you about the cycle of life.
Sometimes there are days that beginnings & endings happen all at once.

Today we have chicks hatching in the incubator!
It's a day early from my calculations but they are cracking the shells and announcing their arrival with little peeps from within.  It's so fun to watch them enter the world.
just hatched
That means that we need to get the young chicks that we hatched in our earlier batches out of the brooder and into the hen house.  We tried this last week and the young rooster got picked nearly to death.  Some picking on little ones is normal but they were just terrible to that poor guy. Today we will try to introduce them again.  I'm watching closely from the window so the mean hens can be identified and "retired".

young pullets

And then we have one dying and we aren't sure why.  She doesn't look good.  It's OK though. I love raising chickens but they are not pets (except for Lizzy, of course) and this is part of the process.

It's a full circle ~ a wonderful thing to experience ~ life.


So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.  Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 8:15

Comments

  1. Love the little chicks. It is good to see the cycle of life from beginning to end.

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  2. Cute little chicks. I found a new home for two of my hens after the rooster pecked the girls raw & featureless. They all were raised together but some months after a year the rooster decided to not like them two. Now be takes his pecking out on me at times when I put new water in the feeder. I am now sporting some peck wounds. Blessings! Lara

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    Replies
    1. Any rooster that picks on the family is off the farm. In my experience, once they start that, they just get worse. Hope that is not the case with yours.

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  3. Cute chicks! I had a terrible time with my incubator my last hatch. I've started it back up since I have soo many fertile Cochin eggs. I'm hoping all goes well this time.
    My babies that were hatched by hens seem to be a hit with half the flock. It will be interesting to see if the other (non broodys) will accept them when they are roaming the yard. Not having to deal with the incubator, no brooding, and instant acceptance into the flock. This natural thing may be the way to go ☺

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    Replies
    1. Yes. I've been wishing we had a broody hen.

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  4. Sorry about your dying one :( I had a hen get eaten by a hawk last week - and found the hawk still in our fence. He was so full he couldn't fly out over. That caused a bit of drama :) AS for introducing new hens.....I've had great success doing it at night. An old farmer told me this trick. You wait until everyone is roosting in the dark, then slide the new ones up on the roosting bars. He said they will get up in the morning and act like nothing has changed. I've done this for 3 years now and so far it's worked!

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    1. Thanks for the advice. I'll try that with the new ones.

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  5. Certainly nothing in the world that gives us the full understanding of life like living on a farm. :)

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  6. ...so they can be identified and retired. ha ha

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