# WE HAVE PEEPING!!



## Granny Heeney (Nov 28, 2018)

Dear, sweet little Gus Gus is a DADDY!    I never thought any of Mollie's 3 wee green eggs would hatch, but I braved the 20 degrees and scooped her up to get a quick look.  One is PEEPING!    My mind is gone, my knees are knocking (yes, this would be my first time as a chicken granny  LOL).  It's SO cold out there but Mollie has at least 1 beebee trying to get out.  My bestie is on her way over (to give me a Valium?  ROFL) so I gotta get some coffee on.  We'll figure it all out!    My sweeties are about to be parents!  **swoon**  If you have any comments or suggestions, my brain is whacked right now, so post away.  LOL


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## Granny Heeney (Nov 28, 2018)

Mollie is MAD...I lifted her up just a bit, for just a moment, but I don't think her neck feathers will ever lie down again.  She dilophosaurus-ed at me.  *snicker*  She's never pecked but I ain't pushing it.


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## Rammy (Nov 28, 2018)




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## Pioneer Chicken (Nov 28, 2018)

How exciting! So happy for you! Hatching chicks is such a fun experience and they are too cute. Please post photos when they've hatched!!


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## Granny Heeney (Nov 28, 2018)

We have CHICK!  LOL  My friend and I went back in to check just a couple hours later and there he was!  Talk about in a hurry.  Never heard of such a speedy hatching!

Well, my daughter found my phone--in all the chaos, I left it in my friend's van.    So I will take pics first thing in the a.m.!  Wait til you see how teeny he is!


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 1, 2018)




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## Granny Heeney (Dec 1, 2018)

I'm going to call it "him" so it turns out to be a pullet  (I'll let you know how THAT goes ROFL)  About 20 mins ago, he snagged a piece of scrambled egg off my breakfast plate and ran away with it.    We've got him on medicated chick starter, he ate and drank all by himself from right out of the chute.    I feel blessed, considering the many "My chick won't eat or drink" threads I've seen in the past.  There's a fella here in BYH that told someone a while back that they're mimics; with that in mind, I set the bottle cap in front of him and dipped my finger in.  Boom, off to the races!  Now the little punk's to the point of stealing food off my plate, so Gus' boy is going to survive these first weeks quite well.


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 1, 2018)

Granny Heeney said:


> Mollie is MAD...I lifted her up just a bit, for just a moment, but I don't think her neck feathers will ever lie down again.  She dilophosaurus-ed at me.  *snicker*  She's never pecked but I ain't pushing it.


BTW...eventually, she DID bite me  LOLOL  Not hard, but she made her irritation known


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## Rammy (Dec 1, 2018)

I love hatching chicks. Had a few mishaps like when one was born with star gazers and another with splay legs. Put down the star gazer but was able to fix the one with the legs. They are so cute. I found that it seems males start getting color in thier wattles at about 3 weeks. Whenever one started getting that it was always a boy. 
Once I hatched out some BO and Leghorn crosses. Talk about mean little bleeps! Even as chicks the males would attack my fingers when feeding. They went bye bye. Congrats on your fuzzies!


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 1, 2018)

Wow, thanks for the advice, Rammy, I'll be keeping an eye on those wattles!  :-o


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 1, 2018)

Okay...also don't need to worry about stoppages ATM...he just pooped all over me  LOL


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## Sheepshape (Dec 1, 2018)

Very exciting. I've hatched (on the incubator) and my girls have hatched many chicks. I currently have 30+ chickens (I am able to count over 30, just refuse to count them when OH starts saying "We have WAY too many chickens. How many is it right now?" 

The excitement of seeing those tiny little heads under mum's wing and hearing their cheeping is too precious.

Mum will do all the work....she'll break up food for them, keep them warm, take them to water etc.  Could you maybe move her to somewhere a bit warmer when  they are all hatched as they may struggle a bit for heat, though the hen usually manages whatever the temperature. 

Water....a shallow dish with little stones in it to prevent drowning.

Food....chick crumbs are the best, but ground up adult food will do.

Cockerels or hens?......cockerels...often more aggressive from the outset, bigger wattles, comb and feet. Permanent feathers start developing into 'blocks' of colour rather than the uniformity of pullets (6-10 weeks). Some breeds have different colour down at hatching. Ah....then the cockerels will start to crow at some stage!

Good luck and enjoy your little ones.


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 2, 2018)

Sheepshape said:


> Very exciting. I've hatched (on the incubator) and my girls have hatched many chicks. I currently have 30+ chickens (I am able to count over 30, just refuse to count them when OH starts saying "We have WAY too many chickens. How many is it right now?"
> 
> The excitement of seeing those tiny little heads under mum's wing and hearing their cheeping is too precious.
> 
> ...


Thank you very much!


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 2, 2018)

Keeping your advice in mind, Rammy, this little one has spunk...nippy, bullheaded, grabbed my lip once and did that rooster-twist-bite...and 9 Volt wants NOTHING to do with this youngster.  He loved on every Brahma pullet that came through here but hated my daughter's chick, which turned out to be a roo...seriously thinking Gus Gus' kid is a Jr!  :-o


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## Baymule (Dec 2, 2018)

Congrats on the cute chick. Enjoy.


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## Carla D (Dec 2, 2018)

That is so exciting! Congrats.


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 5, 2018)

My neighbor Marie checked the chick out a couple days ago and said something about a double row of wing feathers?  So she thinks it's a pullet; she was right about my daughter's Barnevelder roo.  :-o  She walked in, looked at him and said, "Well hello, little fella."  :-o  Cricket NEEDS to be a pullet.  *crossings of fingerses*    If Marie nailed the sex on a Barnevelder chick, she gotz skillz!  I sure hope she's right!


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## Rammy (Dec 5, 2018)

If shes not, two for the stewpot!


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 5, 2018)

That's what I'm saying  *evil grin*  A Barnevelder roo?  I'd bake that big boy!    She'd kill me!


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## Baymule (Dec 5, 2018)

That what roosters are for, the stew pot! Same thing with boy lambs, I castrate them and name them Dinner.


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## Granny Heeney (Dec 7, 2018)

Still so depressed we didn't eat Leroy.  Listened to neighbors say you can't eat a mature roo.    *sigh*


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