I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire - I Just Want To Start A Flame In Your Heart

Remember Flame? Flame was laid in the coop just as the Carr fire was getting going. There were two other eggs that her mama produced after laying the first. As I said foolish woman I was I failed to mark the eggs as we used to in years gone by. So imagine my surprise when I found two more (a total of 5) eggs in the nest. Since it was about a weeks difference I simply calculated a five day difference in hatching and hoped she would keep them warm.

Well the twenty-first of August I went out to check the nest and low and behold above is what I found. At that point there were only two other eggs left in the nest and she was keeping them warm. But of course she was nesting in a nesting box that was not a good place for a small chick. No food, no water and about three feet off the ground. So I made a safe place for them and moved everyone including the last two eggs. Worked well but the more active Flame became the more Mama was up and running. Finally on an egg check just before the last hatch date an egg was accidentally broken.Luckily it was an old egg no chick and most lucky because it didn't smell. Nothing like a rotten egg.😷 Then a few days later Mama was done and the last remaining  egg was fairly cold. Lucky another not viable egg. Not that I am fond of bad eggs but I would have felt bad if a viable chick died due to my lack of egg marking. I know livestock = dead stock but still 😪

So here we are almost a month later and Flame is a very precocious single chick. She has learned her Mama lessons well. She can roost about a foot off the ground, scratch with the best of them and steals grape treats from her Mama. And mercy me she is a big girl now!

I took down all the road blocks and put extra steps on the big waterer and feeder. I took the water out of their pen and left the hanging feeder and during the day I open the door so them can go exploring but dash back to home if needed or desired. So far the hens have pretty much ignored them. Mr . Paul Newman was snippy with Mama hen but just gave Flame the eyeball. To which I reminded him he is part of the equation in all this.  Flame is sporting all her secondary feathers and has really long legs perhaps Papa's side of the family?

Forgive the darkness of the photos. I am not sure what went wrong on a few of them but if I dink with them too much there is almost no definition at all. So just click on them and you get a better look when they are enlarged. 

I went out last night to check on everyone only to hear Flame cheeping like crazy. Mama was up about three feet on a roosting board with her two sisters. Little Flame couldn't make the jump yet.Mama kept encouraging her and Flame keep peeping frantically "I can't Mama I can't." So I snagged Flame and with the other hand grabbed Mama set her on the ground cared Flame over to the baby pen and deposited her , scooted Mama in gently with a foot . I then added a small waterer and closed the panel. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh the sounds of silence.

I was unsure of how the first day out would be but I had kept the little pen mostly intact assuming the moving chicks and hens is like moving goats around. Rule number one NEVER NEVER NEVER TAKE DOWN OLD PEN UNTIL YOU ARE SURE THE NEW ACCOMMODATIONS WORK! 
So Mama and Flame will continue to spend nights in the safe pen and the days exploring.