It is a Rough World

It is not a good week on the homestead.

Last Friday, we had a flock of laying hens, a beloved rooster, a pen full of meat birds, eight week old future hens, and a hen setting on eggs.

A week later, we have basically nothing left. The meat birds are in the freezer, thankfully. The hens that have survived the predator attack are at my parent's farm. Everything else is dead.

I've dreamed for years of hatching our own chicks. It was one of the main reasons I chose to get some heritage breed chickens. But last year, though a few attempted, none of the hens successfully hatched. When we got new layers last year, I saved my two favorite heritage hens even though they were not laying well.

This spring, the speckled sussex hen began setting. I didn't even know if her eggs were fertile. But yesterday the four eggs began to hatch.


We watched them all day and last evening, two chicks hatched. But when we found them, one was dead and the hen pecked at the other chick. Was the hen rejecting her own chicks? Hopes of the hen caring for her chicks were dashed. We would get out the brooder lamp.


We brought the live chick inside and the children enjoyed playing with it.


Soon another chick hatched. He was still partly attached to his shell and wet.


The last egg was partly cracked so we brought it in under the brooder light and were able to watch it hatch.


What fun! I think I enjoyed it as much as the children. It was amazing to see it emerge from the shell and then turn fluffy. Three chicks wasn't many but I was excited about building a new flock, especially since they were the descendents of our favorite rooster.

The chicks were chirpy and active last night, but this morning they were all dead. Were they too warm? Or too cold? Or are we just doomed to kill things this week?

I know others have much bigger problems than I. But it doesn't take away the disappointment.