LaFonda is a terrific mother hen. Showing the chicks where to find their feed and to drink water from the very first day. Then as they grew, began teaching them how to scratch the flowerbeds to find insects, dust in the dirt, and take cover at the sight of possible prey. She clucks to keep them in line and close to her. It's funny to watch her scold (peck) them when they don't listen or pay attention. There's probably a lot of truth to above cartoon.
The chicks are about three months old now and we've noticed lately that LaFonda is starting to distance herself from them. This is most noticeable at night when all the hens line up on the roost. LaFonda nestles herself between the other hens leaving the chicks to find a spot by themselves. If they try to roost next to her, she pecks at them and they finally move to another spot, whereas before the four babies would snuggle next to her and she would spread her wings out around them protecting them from the other hens. It's kind of sad to watch, but again, it's part of the cycle.
We think one of the chicks may be a rooster (comb and waddles are more prominent compared to the other chicks). We hope so as we are ready to get the incubator out again and hatch out some chicks ourselves. I'll write about our previous experience with that in another post. It's a wonderful experience.
It's starting to get dark out so I better go and check on LaFonda and the others to make sure they all get settled in for the night.
(Picture: LaFonda and babies at one week of age)
