Even More New Families

These are the two big pets.  They have now been moved from the barn yard to a great big field all by themselves.  What do you think they might be wanting?

They got it!  

This momma  looks nice enough.  She is really a criminal.  She is a kidnapper. She took a liking to these two babies and just took them from their legally adoptive momma (papaw got these eggs from a friend for his chicken to sit on and hatch).  She is a ferocious protector of her new babies.  Hopefully she won't be too disappointed when they grow up and she realizes they aren't really chickens.  They are guineas. 

For now, no one's the wiser...

The maternity ward is overflowing these days. This is a new momma with 10 babies.  The momma chickens teach the babies how to eat. She clucks to them and pecks at the food. She throws water in front of them to teach them to drink.  She will catch a bug and spit it out in front of them so they can eat it. 

Since there are two families in the maternity ward, they had to be separated.  This is the family on the other side of the divider.  Don't ya know that if you have ten kids they would all want to stand in your plate?

The surprise of the day was this... Five new babies and maybe more to come.  She has a cozy little nest but now will have to be moved into the nursery.  They can't stay under momma more than a day or two - time to push them out and start teaching them to fend for themselves.  

These are the "elders".  They are just wondering, "What are we gonna do with all these kids?"

Family Update

Remember that post with the momma who had twins and she wasn't so sure she wanted them both? Well, if you lock them up together soon enough she is not as likely to deny one of them. Luckily, Papaw got all three locked up together and she ended up accepting them both. It was funny, she would smell one of them, then the other and if only a momma cow could talk I think she would say, "What is going on here?! This one smells just like my baby!! How did this happen?"

Here they are now, beautiful, healthy, curious, playful almost two month olds.

This is their sister from last year's set of twins that still thinks she is a lap baby. She is a spoiled pet. She wants her neck scratched and will follow you around until you pay attention to her or feed her some "good food." Her name is Tippy because she has a white tip on her tail. She is very sweet and quite a beauty.

Another family who welcomed new additions was this little chicken. She has several babies that she ferociously protects. She will puff out her feathers and peck at you when you try to catch one of the babies. She flew all the way up my arm trying to make me leave her babies alone. She corrals them in a corner and then DARES you to try to get one.

She is a good momma. She doesn't care how many she has (not like momma cow). She will take care of however many hatch under her. But...if you are hatched by another momma - WATCH OUT!!!

The New Additions

Tell me how cute this little bundle is!!

'Bout as cute as this little bundle!

They are twins that were born this morning on my dad's farm. Notice how one has nice, slick, clean hair? Momma cleaned that one. Momma don't like multiples. This is her third set of twins and with both of the previous sets she chose to only feed one of the two. My dad (Papaw) spent a lot of time with the other two rejects - Dixie and Tippy. They bonded well with him. Tippy still thinks she is a dog.

Here's Momma. She looks like a good Momma, and she is. To one baby at a time. She has been locked in a stall with both her babies to see if she can be forced to love them both. If she chooses not to - one of her babies will be forced to bond with Papaw. Again.

And here is the proud Daddy. He is no help at all.

I will keep you posted on this family's progress...