Chicken Babies Left Behind, Part 2

We’re going to have a bunch of baby chickens around here I’m thinking!  We have several hens sitting on eggs.  There are two or three hens with nests under outbuildings and who knows where else. 

Then there were a couple of hens out in the sheep shed. One hen has been going about with her chicks for about a week now and just goes back to the nest at night.  The other hen has had at least one or two chicks under her for days.  I’d about decided I was going to get her off the nest today just to see what was under there.

Guess she decided on her own it was time, because I saw her in front of the sheep shed scratching around in the dirt with a couple of chicks.

I heard more cheeping, however, so went to look in the nest.  Sure enough, there were some chicks left behind.  Once again I scooped them up and put them close to the mama hen.  It didn’t take the chicks long to know to follow along after mama.

She checked out the chicks, and the chicks checked out her.

But there was still one little chick left behind in the nest, too newly hatched to get out and about with the others.  I couldn’t leave it there to die, so that one I scooped up and carried around until I finished my chores.

I had to find a box to make into a brooder for the little thing.  While I was working, I used clothespins to make a pouch in my shirt and carried him (her?) around.  Then I put the little thing into the box. . .

When I’ve only got one or two chicks, I always put a soft, plush, stuffed animal in with them.  The teddy bear works well because I can prop it up with its “arms” and legs.

Now the little chick can stay nice and warm.  Cute little thing! 

And how are the first batch of chicks doing?  See for yourself. . .

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No doubt we’ll end up with WAY too many roosters among these chicks, but that’s the way it goes!

Chicken Babies Left Behind

We’ve got a number of hens sitting on eggs.  I’ve heard peeping under one hen for a couple of days now.  This morning I checked, and she was gone, but there were 6 little chicken babies left behind.

Three were in the nest still . . .

The other three had crawled over into another section, beside another sitting hen. . .

I saw the hen out in the goat and llamas pen.  She had one lone chick following her around, obviously the only one that managed to crawl out of the nest.  I decided to rescue the six chicks, and see if she would accept them following her around also.

I scooped them all up and carried them out to where she was and put them down in the grass.  Then I got behind the hen and scooted her in their direction.

She checked them over for a little while, and I wasn’t sure she was going to remember they were HERS.  But pretty soon she started clucking, and the little peeps took off after her.

Soon all seven of her baby chickens were following her everywhere, through tall grass and even through the llama poop pile.

I’ve put a little ramp up to the nest, so hopefully the baby chickens can all get back in there tonight. But I’ll doublecheck them to make sure they are all safe and snug!

Snowy Egret

While we were in Florida we stayed at a condo with a small lake outside our windows.  It was fun to watch the water birds looking for a snack or just gliding around on the lake. 

This is one of my favorite shots.  It’s a Snowy Egret taking flight.

I love watching egrets and herons and cranes and ducks and geese and just all those swimming birds!

Snakes on a Plane!

Okay, so I didn’t really see these snakes on a plane.  More like “Snakes in Terrariums!”  What can I say?  Just couldn’t resist that title!

As you have probably surmised already, these snakes were in the zoo part of the Okefenokee Swamp Park.

And now a disclaimer!  If snakes give you the heebie-jeebies. . .
DON’T READ THE REST OF THIS POST!

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Okefenokee Swamp Park

We visited Okefenokee Swamp Park on our way to Florida.  It was interesting, and I hope we get to go to another area of Okefenokee Swamp some day soon!

I’m going to start with a few pictures from the zoo-like area of the Okefenokee Swamp Park, and in the order we saw stuff.  As for the actual swamp,  I’ll do pictures of our boat ride through it in another post!

Of course, you can’t go to a southern swamp and not see gators! 

They had several alligators in an enclosure near the park entrance.

We walked around on a board walk to see the alligator pen, and they also had one lone otter. 

He (or she) kept jumping up in the air, like they were trying to see something on the other side of the fence.

It didn’t take us long to get around to more alligators. . .

They were all kind lethargic while we were there, just being still and sunning themselves.

Now, in case you didn’t know this, Okefenokee Swamp Park is in Waycross, Georgia.  That also happened to be the home of Walt Kelly, the creator of the cartoon strip, Pogo.

One building in the park had a section dedicated to his work.

Close by was another building with a few critter exhibits – some live, and some having been to a taxidermist.  It will probably come as no surprise they had some . . .

. . .BABY GATORS!

In another big enclosure, they had black bears.  It’s kind of neat because they have a big glassed in room at one end where you can sit there and watch the bears.  We could see two bears.  One was asleep in the grass, and the other one was sitting up. . .

Maybe he was watching us!

After walking around the “tamer” part of the park, we were ready to take a walk on the wild side (or in this case, a boat ride).  We headed over to the water front, and there was a gator swimming free!

I guess when we saw alligators on the loose, we could have been like this squirrel and made tracks out of there. . .

But instead, we decided to be brave and take a boat ride through the Okefenokee Swamp!