The hero hen

After the rooster and the other hen were caught, the old hen took it upon herself to save the flock from extinction. She immediately got herself broody and sat on the eggs she stashed. It took us three days to find her because she was sneaky and hid away. I followed her after she came out to eat on the third day and found her sitting on eight eggs. We could then transfer her and the eggs to the nesting box, which lives in the lounge during hatching and until the babies are big enough to sleep outside. Through the years we’ve found that the box shouldn’t just have grass in the bottom, but some soil as well as the eggs need moisture to hatch. And exactly 21 day later, seven perfect babies hatched on the 23rd of December.
The Silkie hens are so cool, they are totally heaven taught and know exactly what to do with the babies. The mother only gets up from the nest on the 23rd day as the babies don’t need to eat in the first 24 hours. And then she just takes them for a very short little walk and teaches them different sounds she makes for food, danger etc.
She has such a good stretch and a huge shit as she hasn’t gone for three days.
The first thing the babies learn is to not stand behind her when she skrops but to come from the front. They go to bed early in the first few days and then surely and slowly go further away from the house and stay out longer.
Cheers to the the hero hen ( and of course the rooster as we weren’t sure he was fertilizing the eggs yet.)