Chicken Licken

After many days of unsuccessful sitting on her eggs Bonnie our chicken was destined not to be become a mum.  Rather than disappoint and of course depress her I was determined that all her hard work of sitting on her eggs would not be in vain.

So off I set to find day old chicks with which to swap for her infertile eggs.



At a place called Bonavista we found a stall in the Sunday market selling all manner of animals, from day old Chicks (some were slightly older) to Ducklings to Peacocks, Piglets and many, many other types of animal. (it was quite heartbreaking to behold).

After negotiations on price I picked out four little bundles of yellow fluff and brought them home to Bonnie and Clyde the expectant parents.

As soon as we got home we convinced Bonnie to leave the hen house by coaxing her gently out and as she wandered around we took out the infertile eggs.



And replaced them with the chicks in the hope she would think her eggs had hatched whilst she was out and she would at last have her chance to be a mum.

 


Hmmm, she was not going to be fooled.

And neither was Clyde, maybe it was because none of them looked like him, lol.


Pretty soon it became obvious we would have to take them out of the chicken run and hand raise them or they would die.
This was not what I had hoped for and not an ideal situation but one we had to deal with.



So we dug out an old dog crate and put it into the house (for warmth) and popped the chicks in for safety.

Four little bundles of yellow fluff, merrily cheeping away, taking a bath in their drinking water.

Hubby asked if I was sure they were chickens and not Ducks as they sure liked to sit in the water, but I told him they were just cooling off and they were.

 

The very next day we popped them out into the chicken run and left them to have a scratt around in the hope that Bonnie the hen would change her mind. 

It didn't work, and neither did the fence keep them all in.  One, whom my son had nicknamed Funnion got through the smallest of gaps, no wider than your finger and as she was running across the yard one of my dogs caught her.

We didn't see it happen, our backs were turned otherwise we would have told our dog to stop, but nature being what it is and our dog Reina being a hunting dog and being presented with the opportunity to take out something running poor little Funnion didnt stand a chance.  We found her dead after a long search (we rather hoped she had just hidden herself in the long grass), we were all devastated. 

New plan. 

Keep the Chicks indoors or at least in the cage out of the dogs reach and away from any avenue of escape until they were a decent size, one unable to squeeze through so small a gap.

So that is what I did. 

Four weeks after buying them this is how they look.



Don't worry, she isn't hurt, she is just sunning herself whilst cuddling up to her sister for added warmth and security.








Gone are the little bundles of yellow fluff, now they are looking like Chickens. 

Over the next couple of days I am hoping to build them a new home inside the Chicken Pen and once they are feathered up completely I will be popping them in there to live. 

As for Bonnie and Clyde, well their human namesakes were never very sociable so I guess they are simply following their example.

 

With each day that passes our latest members to the Chicken clan grow.

We think the Chicks are now roughly 5 weeks old. Haven't they grown.

Check out the wattles on this bad boy. Yep, he is a cockerel (Rooster) so watch out Clyde there is a new guy in town.





































And of course the opposite of a cockerel is. Yep, you guessed it, a hen.
































And in this case, it is two hens to be precise. Bonnie, you are no longer are the fairest hen of all, you have competition. These babies are going to be beauties.