Another "surprise" arrived this week when I found two baby geese had hatched under the tender care of the Austrolorp hens. The adult female goose had no interest in sitting on her nest so I took the last four eggs and put them under a hen! About 4 weeks later.....ta daa! They are doing well and have had the protection of the coop. As the days have passed they are now getting bolder and have been out wandering with Mama keeping guard. The hen shows them how to scratch and look for seeds, but they just aren't catching on! The adult geese are getting more curious each day, and I had to intervene when they were trying to herd Mama and babies to the woods today. That wouldn't end well.
As it didn't end well for the #3 chick hatchling. Butterfluff turned out to be a rooster and Spotty is a hen. The third pure white chick turned up missing last week. An owl? Hawk?.....who knows, but it was sad to have her disappear. These two are learning their way about the place and the adults have been leaving them alone. Soon they will be as big as they are but they will always have their distinctive colors to distinguish themselves as the firstborn chicks of Catfish Corner.
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