Meet Later.
Later is one of the newest members of our little family.
To understand why this lovely little chick is named Later I need to start at the beginning. And, as usual with me, it involves a story. You have been warned.
Later’s tale starts well before his/her shell was ever laid. You see, our small flock has been getting ever smaller as time catches up with our ladies. Each year we lose a couple more to old age.
I decided this year to let a few hens go broody and hatch out some eggs to replenish our numbers. Thankfully our rooster Carl was more than happy to do his part.
I let two hens and one duck sit and they hatched out 14 healthy chicks between them. Unfortunately the Mississippi Kites that nested across the street decided that we didn’t need so many chicks. Only three chicks escaped their attentions. Once I saw what was happening I moved all the chicks to the covered pen where hungry raptors can not reach.
Three chicks were not enough so I decided to let two more hens sit on eggs. It took a while because they kept switching nests and abandoning eggs. All the while the non-broody hens kept slipping fresh eggs under the sitting hens. Every couple of nights I would candle the eggs and remove the fresh eggs and any non-developing eggs. But both hens soon settled and began incubating.
The problem came when the first four chicks hatched. Both hens wanted to be their mommy and abandoned the rest of the eggs to care for the new chicks. To stop this I picked a hen and put her and the new chicks in the covered, hawk resistant, pen. I then candled all the eggs and put all the well developed eggs in one nest away from the other hens. The remaining hen returned to brooding and that was that. Except it wasn’t.
After four days that hen hatched out three chicks and left the nest to care for them. Out of all the eggs only three didn’t hatch. Not too bad considering all the shuffling around. This last hen and her chicks were also moved into the covered pen. No more hens wanted to sit and I was happy.
All was well. Until six days later. I heard a chick peeping from the chicken coop. Strange. Maybe one of the chicks had somehow gotten out of the covered pen? Imagine my surprise when I investigated and found a newly hatched chick in that last hens nest. One of those three remaining eggs just hatched! I had completely forgotten to go back and remove the eggs the hen had abandoned. Nothing had been sitting on them for almost a week. Yet here this little guy or gal was peeping away.
I first tried to get one of the hens with chicks to take the new baby in but they didn’t want anything to do with it. Now I have a chick which has imprinted on me. A chick that odds said shouldn’t have even hatched. A chick which defied all reason and told the world that it would not give up. Sure it was late, but by golly it was here now!
Doubtless the insanely hot days (and nights) we have been having allowed that one chick to continue on in the shell. Still, you have to admire the sheer tenaciousness of this little one. This one last, late chick. And so Later has earned a name.
Later spends his/her days helping around the farm. Later chases bugs, weeds the garden, and “helps” pick vegetables. He/she is seldom far from from my foot or hand. I foresee interesting times ahead.
