Broody turkey hen with chicken eggs! Sheesh! ***new ???? p 9***

[Quail_Antwerp]

What adorable babies, Free!

We witnessed some turkey lovin's yesterday betwixt our pair of Bourbon Reds - hoping that means some egg laying will be happening soon!

 

[freemotion]

How cute! Glad everything ended up working out. So are all of the eggs gone from her nest now?

There are a few under her, but she was off the nest so many times yesterday that I think I will remove the rest today. There have been no live chicks in a few days, since the last of these six hatched.

I hope once she raises these kids, she and Tom will kiss and make up....er....make out!

 

[Dace]

Well it sounds like she is being a good little (big) momma!

So will she and these chicks always have a bit of a bond or does everyone just grow up and go their separate ways?

 

[freemotion]

This is all new to me! So we will see....

 

[gettinaclue]

Thanks for those pics!

Really cute.

 

[ksalvagno]

Those chicks are adorable.

 

[big brown horse]

Awwww! They are so cute!!

I wanna turkey mama!!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

How cool!

 

[FarmerDenise]

So I guess, when your chicks get older, they won't be able to communicate with the chickens, because they will learn to speak turkey.

 

[freemotion]

As long as the pullets don't flirt with the tom...he'd smash 'em flat! Roadkill!

When I was taking a run through the barn tonight before coming in, I spotted a little chick just outside the nest box, dead. So I went in and of course, it was within reach of Psycho Turkey's hissing beak, so I had to dodge and parry to grab that chick.

As I inspected its deadness, it blinked at me. So I tucked it in my bra....well, not really, as I don't.....ahem....have the room that some women have. I held the little cold, stiff body against my skin while I finished up one-handed and went up to the house. He....SHE....ok, IT....last time I worked hard to save a chick it ended up being a rooster....started to perk up just from the warmth of my body. Hope.

I set it up in a shoebox with two quart glass bottles of hot tap water draped in a towel. I checked him every few minutes, and changed the water periodically. When I found him...it....perched on top of the water bottle, it became apparent that he might survive, so I set him up with a desklamp with a hot halogen bulb and offered some canned catfood (nope, not yet.)

I had to go out for a few hours, so I put everything in the bathroom away from drooling dogs and prowling cats. When I came home, he was perkier, but still had no interest in food, and had not pooped. Wait a minute....no poo.....I quickly picked him up and turned him over and sure enough, pasty butt! His little tuckus was stuck shut by hardened baby chick doo-doo. Hard as cement, stuck like super-glue.

I soaked it gently with a warm, wet bit of paper towel, gently scrubbing for many, many minutes. Eventually, we both needed a break, and I saw light at the end of the tunnel, if you get my drift. I left him for a few minutes to do other things, and when I came back, he had produced what all worried mamas like to see, a nice little healthy pile of poo. I washed him a bit more, then put him to bed. He did a bit of very loud peeping for his mama, which made my heart ache and made me want to run him right out to her, even though it was midnight by then. Sigh. He needs to be stronger, so I will just have to harden my heart. He may be in the stew pot one day, but right now he is a fluffy baby in distress. I melt.

Gunnar, however, has a different opinion of the situation. He thinks it would make a lovely bedtime snack: