Some "eggciting" news

My surrogate hen

trying to get out....

We have new chicks! I planted some fertilized eggs in my chicken coop and a hen decided to hatch them out! Twenty one days after sitting on them she now is the proud mama hen on 5 chicks. She hatched out 8 but unfortunately three of them died, one had a birth defect and the other two I believe were attacked by the bigger hens. I had tried moving her and the chicks to another pen but she was so upset I put her back in her nesting box. It was bad decision on my part to not try harder to move her. I finally decided I had to do something so she is now in a dog kennel with her chicks and is content in her new home!
Watching her sit on these eggs that weren't even hers was so amazing. She sat on the eggs for 21 days! During this time she plucked feathers from her breasts to keep good skin to egg contact. I am assuming that this not only helped keep the eggs at the right temperature but also the humidity levels correct. In the 3 weeks I saw her off the nest maybe 3 times. On Sunday afternoon (Mother's day-how appropriate) a chick started to peck out of its shell. You could feel it moving and hear it peeping! It finally came out sometime in the night as when I went out Monday morning there were 3 new chicks and more trying to hatch out. When I offered her water and feed she was extremely noisy while eating and drinking but I think she was trying to get her chicks attention so they could learn how to eat and drink. Since the breed of these chicks are Red Sexlink (aka Red Stars) you can tell the males apart from the females by the colors (the boys are yellow and the girls are more red). I think the count is 2 males and 3 females. The mama hen is still sitting on 3 more eggs but I think don't think they are going to hatch...she is still hoping. I suspect she will loose interest in them in a few days, if not I will have to toss them out. She is very protective of her chicks and most the time the chicks are underneath her or tucked under her wings staying nice and warm. Normally I would have a heat lamp on baby chicks but not this time. I have been constantly amazed during this whole process and am absolutely amazed at how perfectly God created chickens! Absolutely awesome! What an incredible world we live in!