Last week my banty hen surprised me with 4 newly hatched chicks. She is a broody blue grey banty that always sneaks off to hatch only her tiny blue eggs. This time she got into a 3 inch space behind a stall door and straw bales in the dog kennel. She was easy prey for snakes, coons or packrat. I found her abandoned nest with 2 unfertilized eggs she left behind. With winter on I was worried about the chicks surviving outside. So I put mom and chicks in a cage with a light and lots of straw. All are doing well. The chicks wings are fully feathered now and they are big. The weather will warm up next week and I will let them out of the cage to join the flock.
Normally every year around February I get a hatch of duckling. I have a few broody gals waiting to set. My ducks do not seem to be the best mama ducks. I usually raise the ducklings inside our house. Then I use a foster mama duck to show them the ropes. It would be great to have good mama duck just once. But Runners, Campbells, Cayugas and Rouens have not been able to do this for me in 8 years of raising them. But that is fine, we like raising them indoors.
