Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

 We have babies!  Say hello to the first of the critters to be born here at our little Hillside Haven.  I'm so excited!  We had to do some last minute improv since we hadn't really figured out what to do with the chicks once they actually hatched.  You see Mars built the nesting boxes about four foot off the ground. I was so worried about the little ones falling out of the nest but he kept telling me it would be just fine.  "Heck baby birds fall out of the nest all the time and they are fine".  Uhmmm ok.  

Come to find out, I guess he was right this time.  I went to check on the chickens ( which I had been doing like every hour or so) to see if we had babies yet.  Well, I walked in the coop and I'll be danged if there weren't five little chicks and a freaked out mama hen on the floor! 

  So we had to do a bit of moving things around.  First there was the matter of finding some place for the new family.  We have a cage that could be used and it's perfect for the time being. 
 The problem was that we have been keeping "Stew" the Rooster in there because he's mean as hell and beats up the other chickens.  He has a date with the stew pot but we just haven't got around to "doing the deed" yet. 

 We don't let them free range because the last time we tried that Stew(art) the rooster went back down the hill where he came from.  They made us come get and bring him home.  Hey, I told ya he was mean!  LOL  So he's been hanging out in the pen for the past couple of weeks.  

   So what to do with him???  Well, we have a spare spot in the rabbit hutch so we just moved him in with his new roommates for the time being.  Poor old Bucky the rabbit wasn't too sure what to think of him at first but everyone settled down pretty fast.

The next step was to get the other chickens out of the coop and out into the pen and blocking the coop door.  They are all pretty used to me and don't get all freaked out when I go in there but they don't really follow directions well!  So I told Mars to just walk in there and they would all run out the door. 

 Sure enough.... easy peasy.  So we set up the cage with straw and water and Mars caught the indignant mama hen and shoved her in the cage.  Of course she was totally freaking out because... well....."MY BABIES, MY BABIES".   After rounding up the chicks and having a family reunion everyone settled right down.  As soon as I opened up the coop for the other chickens to be able to come in....

Raggedy Anne  (the hen with the missing back feathers - thanks Stew!) Jumped up into the nesting box on the rest of the eggs and has been sitting there since Monday!  We aren't getting any eggs at the moment but apparently we just might have some more babies in a couple of weeks.