Success and Failure

This morning when I checked on Trixy’s coop to discover a dead chick. It was at the back of the nest and it was difficult to get to it without being eaten alive by an irate broody. Once I got it out I checked it over. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong with it – nothing obvious anyway. Initially I thought it was the chick that had hatched last night, but it was the wrong colour. Added the which, the feathers weren’t dry. Pondering this as I buried it in the garden, I realised we had completely miss counted the eggs. Trixy had been sitting on nine eggs; five had hatched, two were fertile but didn’t develop and one was in fertile. That made eight eggs, not nine. The missing egg must have hatched and the chick been rejected by mum. As it was at the back of the nest and a pale cream colour, we didn’t see it. If we had, we might have been able to help it.

On a more positive note, the little chick from yesterday has fluffed up and is doing its best to keep up with the others. Whilst Trixy was going for a drink, I picked it up and checked it over. All fluffy and bright eyed, it began to cheep loudly for mum so I put it back in the nest. Trixy immediately came across to check on it which confirms that she has accepted it fully. We will just have to keep a careful eye on it over the next few days!

So the plan over the next few days is to finish off the weeding on the plot, tidy the greenhouse and sort out the guttering on the back of the main coop nest box.