I love my life. But there does seem to be quite a lot of it.

Between my job (not inherited that castle in Spain yet), keeping us well fed, tending the garden, the animals and ensuring the house doesn’t fill with dog hair like an enormous house-shaped pillow…well, the days are full. But I know you’re yearning for news about all the beasties here, so I present to you the Chicken Chronicles: The Reader’s Digest Version.

By the way, before I get too far along, this post is dedicated to my friend Gail, at Clay and Limestone. Not only did she offer the phrase Chicken Chronicles in comments about how she enjoys my chickens’ antics, she also manages to do all that life, garden, job stuff and blog too. My hat’s off to you, Gail!

First, Polish hen Edith went broody this summer. For those of you who are not chicken mammas and pappas, that means she decided motherhood was all she needed to fulfill her destiny in life. She took to her nest box and refused to budge. Well, I have a fairly laissez-faire policy when it comes to nature, so I figured, let’s see where this takes us.

Frankly, as laissez-faire can be, the whole thing was messy. Long story short, all the other hens added to Edith’s clutch so that she ended up trying to sit on about 15 eggs—an impossible task for a little Polish hen. To complicate matters, Tina Turner, a beautiful buff Polish hen, was swayed by Edith’s efforts and decided to hatch a batch of her own. She was easily dissuaded for a more carefree life among the motherless hens.

Back to Edith…After about three weeks it was clear that nothing was going to happen on the baby making front, so I took matters into my own hands. Actually, I took Edith into my own hands and took her off the eggs to get rid of them.

Voila! There was a chick under her!

Now, I will dip into the details just a bit here, even though this is the Reader’s Digest version. Edith is not the birth mother. T. Boone Chickens, our enormous rooster, does not do the wild thing with the Polish hens. I don’t know if it’s because he prefers the more full-figured hens or if the Polish girls are just too fast for him, but I’ve never seen him do the deed with one of the mop-headed girls. I suspect that the new chicken is from Dorthy or Meredith, our Easter egg chickens.

So…to get back to the story. Edith and her baby were separated so that the other chickens didn’t commit infanticide, as chickens will do. After a suitable and appropriate maternity leave Edith and her young were re-integrated back into the flock. It was an endearing sight to see her alerting the baby to bugs, tomato morsels and blueberry treats. At night she would sit with the baby under her. After the baby grew too large to sit on, she would put her wing protectively over the baby as they sat side-by-side.

Baby and Edith, his adoptive mum

The baby is now about 13 weeks old.

So far we’re calling the baby “Baby.” Clever, no?

The reason is that the baby will eventually be named Ricky or Lucy, names picked out by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. But one of the names has not yet stuck because I still don’t know if Baby is a Lucy or a Ricky. We should know in another month or so. But I will tell you this. Baby has really, really big feet like T. Boone Chickens. And Baby looks like a cross between Dorothy and Meredith, the Easter egg chickens. We will never know who the birth mother is without DNA testing.

Oh, and Baby loves Edith, his adopted and devoted mum. She is his true mum.

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11 Comments

  • Layanee says:

    I, too, love the Chicken Chronicles and Mr. Ricky is quite a nice looking boy. I think he must be a boy. Glad your chicks are all on the mend. They are, aren’t they?

  • Frances says:

    Oh how wonderful, a story with a happy ending! Boy or girl, Baby is a keeper. 🙂
    .-= Frances´s last blog ..How To Stop Voles-The Wall Project =-.

  • Carol says:

    Thank you for catching us up with the Chicken Chronicles. I’m going to assume he is “Ricky” for now, a sweet “teenager” chicken. He is a handsome chicken!

  • meemsnyc says:

    Omg, that baby chick is just adorable. How lovely that the adopted mum is showing the baby the ropes!
    .-= meemsnyc´s last blog ..Fall Harvest =-.

  • Gail says:

    Thank you for the dedication and extremely kind words! I love the Chicken Chronicles; the chickens; and a happy beginning! ‘Baby’ is beautiful and Edith is to be admired for knowing what her life’s purpose is~It takes some of us humans a lot longer to figure that out. Ricky could be a girl’s name, too. gail

  • Natalie says:

    Edith is very elegant and Baby is adorable!

  • Lisa says:

    Wow, You’ve got a great and entertaining blog going. I loved the post on your mammoth sunflowers! … and baby? baby is so cute:)Hope everythings going well with them!

    -Lisa @Back to the Roots, your stop for 100% sustainable mushroom kits!

  • Lisa says:

    Wow, You’ve got a great and entertaining blog going. I loved the post on your mammoth sunflowers! … and baby? baby is so cute:)Hope everythings going well with them!

    -Lisa @Back to the Roots, your stop for 100% sustainable mushroom kits!

  • elleemme says:

    Loved the chicken Chronicles, just wish I was there to see it live. And Lucy is really cute young one.
    Thanks for sharing 🙂

  • Kim says:

    The best adoption story I’ve read all week – and I read lots of them! 🙂

  • Ann says:

    I love this story — that’s all I can say. Very heartwarming and also funny.
    .-= Ann´s last blog ..Autumn =-.