Saturday (last) was made a little "brighter" when we went out in the afternoon to find that "Blackie" - the little mixed banty hen who has been free ranging with Blue Roo (blue Ameraucana) for the past 2-3 months - had hatched 4 out of the 6 eggs she'd been setting on.
Again, we thought she'd disappeared. BUT we noticed all of a sudden the none of the 3 boy rabbits would enter their hutch... Blackie was sitting broody on a "nest" (we didn't bother her at all, so had no idea how many or?? exactly when). We did see her now and then come out to eat w/ Blue Roo and once I thought she may have died on the nest (hadn't seen her move). I put feed on the ground outside the little hutch. Now I know that she shared the boys' rabbit drinker (2 ltr bottle w/ drinker nipple on it) and she did eat that feed.
The "bug" kept me from being totally enthusiastic. But we were able to corner/catch Blackie and the 4 chicks and put them into the partially, freshly cleaned rabbit cage. Since Saturday night was to drop in temps, we added some alfalfa hay (didn't have to go out to the pasture to get it - feed rabbits with it) to what was still in the cage, put an old 1/2 dog crate in upside down for them to use as a nest box & used a 2 lb coffee can lid to put feed on. Another bottle drinker was added to the outside - in the same spot it had been in when housing rabbits.
Right after we caught them and finished setting up the cage. The other 3 chicks are safely under Blackie (tried to get them out...didn't work).
& some pics of the chix on the 16th - 4 days old.
and a pic of Blackie in May 2014 when she raised a brood of chicks from a collection of eggs. A couple may have been hers, but now that I fully know she lays a cream colored egg, pretty sure none of these were hers. They were sired by a white "Super Blue Layer" rooster (Din-Din) who was a cross between an Ameraucana and a White Leghorn.
We lost the last hen from that batch 2 months ago - about a week after she hatched a group of 5 chicks. We couldn't catch the mama hen (couldn't figure out where she had hidden them after I found them on original nest - big mistake not to catch her right then).
I suppose you can say there's always a silver lining! It DID make me happy, when I originally let dogs out this morning, to hear the "birdies" chirping happily in their cage under the carport.
I haven't moved them out to a permanent coop yet. I want to catch Blue Roo & move him out to the coop that only has 5 hens left in it. Then move Blackie and chicks (still in the cage) as well.