Earlier in the year, I added to the Convent menagerie with four little Rosecomb bantam hens housed in my new chook tractor. The girls settled in well, however unfortunately I lost one, which was heartbreaking.

Although young, the girls have been good layers up until recently when one became broody (and fiercely guarded all the chook eggs). A second one followed this nesting habit and I felt a little guilty given the effort that was being put in with no hope of success, as there’s no rooster around.

My friend Gemma has both hens and roosters, yet none of her chooks were showing any signs of mothering instincts, so we popped a few of Gemma’s eggs under my girls and let them be. To be honest, I had no expectations and would’ve preferred to see the girls pecking happily rather than slaving over a hot nest.

Yesterday the coop was in a tizzy – it appeared a number of chicks had hatched, the girls were berating the dogs badly (who can’t get to them, anyway), and all I could hear was a clamour of mixed bird noises. Apparently the curious babies had wandered straight out the nest and, as the tractor is built more for egg laying than breeding, had slipped through wide wire from their higher level protected box nesting area, down to the ground grass level. Mum’s were trying to round them up, keep them warm and scare the dogs off.

A few quick repairs later and after lots of pecks from cranky hens, the chicks were back safe with their Mums in the nesting box and protected from future mishaps.

Anyway, it appears I have three chicks – two are tiny grey Rosecombs and one a larger ranga – obviously from Gemma’s other big chooks. Not bad from four eggs. Gemma and I both did some quick reading and the cage has been modified and saucers of chick feeding mix and water saucers installed upstairs.

I’ve checked on them today and the Mums seem to be working well with the chicks in the adapted environment. When I say “Mum’s”, two of the hens have been sitting on the eggs and seem to have joint motherhood of the babies which is handy in keeping an eye on all three of them. The third non-motherly hen, however, is also highly protective.

Fingers crossed that this all works out. It’s been an exciting and unanticipated delight over the past few days.