Yes, the chickens are brooding again – and they were “due” yesterday – at least some of them were… not all 34 of them!

I was too disheartened after the last attempt at brooding. Two mothers produced two chicks from 10 eggs. They were an early hatch – the mothers decided to co-parent the hatched chicks and abandoned the other 8 eggs – at least I thought so. I collected the abandoned about to hatch eggs – put them in the warming oven of our very fancy stove, set at the right hatching temperature – or so I thought – they got cooked! So much for the great thermostat! And then, to add insult to injury, one of the chicks disappeared….

Well, this time one of the white chickens decided to brood. One morning a wwoofer from Brazil came up from the chickens gleeful with a great harvest of eggs – all those the chicken been keeping to hatch! I ran down with the eggs – put them under the “mother” – came back up – set the calendar to 21 days – yesterday.

In the meantime, each time the brooder got up to eat, the other chickens laid their eggs over those already there. But we couldn’t identify old from new as in my haste to take the first batch of eggs back down – I’d forgotten to mark them.

One day Howard, our wwoofer from Ireland, happened to be down at the chickens when mum was eating – there were 34 eggs in the nest!

Then one of the black chickens decided to lend a hand – or body – to this vast endeavor – she joined the first brooder. Then, not to be outdone, the second black chicken lent her body to the cause. Now there are three chickens on 34 eggs. And, not to be left out of the fun, the only chicken from the first brood has hopped in with them

Quite a family affair!

How many chickens will hatch when and in what sequence?

I’m not counting.