I walked out the back door the other evening and was shocked to see my adopted chicken walking through the backyard followed by nine fluffy yellow chicks! She had been missing for quite awhile and I was beginning to worry that Mr. Fox might have gobbled her up. Apparently though, she's been on maternity leave, hatching her new brood! I was so excited!
I hurried over to her, hoping I could catch a chick and get some good pictures. She went under the fence and of course all her babies followed, and then here came old Curious Cooter to see what all the ruckus was about and the feathers started flying!
The Mama Chicken went berserk when she saw that big clumsy donkey coming toward her chicks, so she started jumping all around, squawking and holding one of her wings out like she was hurt, trying to distract the donkey. When that didn't work, she would fly up to his head and neck to try and peck him away. Cooter pinned back his ears and threw her off and she came screeching back to him again and again until he cleared away from her babies.
In the meantime, the chicks were scattering willy nilly all through the barnyard, probably wondering what in the world had gotten into their crazy Mama. One of the chicks came right under the fence and into my hand, cheep-cheeping so sweetly. I held it for a minute, telling it how cute it was and petting it's soft feathers, and pretty soon the Mama and all the other chicks crawled under the fence and out to safety, so I put the chick down and she ran to join the others.
The Mama circled around her babies, gathering them up and clucking to them reassuringly, probably counting them to make sure they were all there. Then they all wandered off down the fence row, clucking and cheeping to each other about their near miss with the big bad donkey and the silly woman with the long brown hair.
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