Surprise!

So this morning Hubby goes out to feed the chickens and comes over to the bedroom window with an amused look on his face. I opened the window and he says "Guess what." I say, "What?"

He says, "I saw one of our feral chickens sitting in a hole by the coop." I say, "They do that all the time. Why is that interesting?" He says, "Because she wasn't alone."

"Chicks?"
"Yep. Guess how many."
"2, 4, 6, 8?"
"Keep going."
"10, 11, 12?"
"She has 12 chicks!"

I guess there was a nest we didn't find and a hen we didn't miss for about a month. That's a definite sign that you have too many chickens...and now I guess we have a dozen more! But this hen did this on her own, so she can raise them on her own. We did put a couple of chick waterers out where she was sitting with the chicks, and put a small feeder there, too. But ultimately she's the one responsible to keeping them safe and alive. The mommy hen is an Aracauna and the chicks look like Aracaunas as well, but the daddy rooster could be an Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red or an Aracauna. I'm not sure what that means for the color of the eggs these chicks will lay. That's assuming they are hens and not roosters.

It was pretty cool to watch her pecking around for food for them and watching them follow her around.

It was also pretty cool to see all dozen of them push their way under her to keep warm. Maybe she'll be a good mommy. I hope so!