Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Dotty's pets


Just a few weeks ago, my family got new chicks! One of our chickens (Lily) was broody. For all those chicken experts out there, you probably know what that means. It means she desperately wants babies. But since there are no roosters in the coop, that is impossible. When a chicken is broody, they sit on all the other chickens’ eggs and thinks they will hatch. Of course the eggs never do, so the hens get GRUMPY! They are like rag dolls when you try to pick them up. They puff up and screech, and they don’t let others lay. And THAT causes a problem. When the others don’t lay, they “hold” their eggs, which can be dangerous.

So…. we got Lily two baby chicks to take care of! We snuck them under in her at night (which is the best time) and in the morning she thought she had made babies! Well, now Lily is clucking around happily with her babies, teaching them how to be chickens. And the other big chickens don’t seem to mind. Except, that is, for Lydia who is Lilly’s best friend, and who wants attention, too.