Aren't babies adorable? All babies ... except maybe a baby crocodile. Or a baby snake. Ok. So maybe not all babies. On a homestead you see a lot of cute and cuddly babies. We also see those nasty snakes. While the sheep are popping lambs and the goats kids we've been waiting rather impatiently for our hens to get broody enough to hatch out chicks. They took too long and summer is half over so we borrowed an incubator from a friend. It is a rather ingenious but primitive homemade incubator. Very basic. But very effective with nearly 100% success rate! Ask my dad and brother who sell the imported expensive incubators. We loaded two dozen fertile eggs and set the timer. 21 days ....
Today is day 22 and we have a bumper crop of cute and cuddly little chicks. All have hatched except the last egg. But that little guy is all he's cracked out to be and it'll be a matter of time.
Meanwhile about a week into the incubating we found a broody hen on her little stash of eggs. Who would've thought! Two days ago those little chicks hatched.
We were hoping mama hen would adopt some of the incubator chicks. But .... instead she tried to rip them apart. While I was hoping for a big happy family she rather aggressive about the idea. It is quite amazing how the mama hen knows her own babies. And all our human ears hear is cheep cheep cheep CHEEP!
The timing of the little brood of chicks is perfect for the 50th round of #SMaP. So @nelinoeva here's my version of Wet Birds You have to admit. Babies are so adorable. Unless they're a baby snake. Or a baby crocodile ....
Aaah, this is too cute! My dad used to raise ostriches in Malaysia using incubators. the birds are too finicky to travel, so they had to move fertilized eggs over from here in South Africa and hatch them there. What a process!
Another Saffer! Well. Well. Well! We are certainly bringing the side up. And as far as ostriches go. Yuck. We raised them a couple years. Hated it. They told us that the most important thing to know when raising ostriches is how many dead birds fit in a wheelbarrow. What a depressing reality. I much prefer them in the wild. Much like my post. Incubator versus mama brooding ....
Ahooy indeed from here in the South!
Yep, needless to say, the endeavor tanked. Aside from being finicky, my dad would never pass up an opportunity to tell you how utterly stupid they are too: the true coiners of the title Bird-Brain🙈
"They told us that the most important thing to know when raising ostriches is how many dead birds fit in a wheelbarrow:" my dad would find this macabrely funny
This was about 20 years ago though, and there was apparently a devastating protein shortage in the area. The idea was to farm them to alleviate the nutritional deficit.
They definitely do better in the wild, although we do have some great ostrich farms around, wild is always better.
Their eggs are incredible though, especially if you need to feed 10 people scrambled egg 🤣
not a big fan of ostrich as a meat though, although it's supposed to be very healthy. I can't get my head around it, but it also doesn't do anything for me flavor wise.
Don't bring anything resembling ostrich near me. Gag. We noticed that when they do die , within an hour they smell like they've been rotting all week. How can that be healthy?
Anyway tell me where you are? We're in the Klein Karoo
mmmmmm. yummy🤢
on a lighter note, I'm from Cape Town. @ZakLudick and I just moved in together without gaggle of kiddies. We Live in Table View on the West Coast. Best spot it town if you ask me (except for the flipping wind😱).
Baby snakes and alligators are also very cute, with big smiling eyes and permanent grins.
All the better to see you with!
Awwww they are very cute
If you were to ask my son, he'd say baby snakes and baby crocodiles are cute too ;p
Every mama is conservative about her children first 😀
Exactly! I have managed to get other mamas (like goats and sheep and cows) to adopt an orphaned baby. So I was hopeful
Awww, soooo adorable! 🐥
The little babies always melt hearts. I don't know about baby crocodile or snake, some may find them cute too, but we prefer fluff ball, don't we?
Thank you again for this lovely and cute post! 🙂
Thank you for inspiring the idea! As far as those baby crocodiles and snakes .... I'm sure SOMEONE loves them
So funny! And the best shots. Congrats Mom.
Thank you!!
They are sooo cute! We used an incubator last year (first and only time) and then we tried to take them to a mama hen for adoption :) The ones that we put under the hen at night were ok, cause in the following morning when she woke up they already had her smell. The next day we went to put some more and she tried to rip them apart. We took them back and tried again at night to put them under the hen while she was sleeping and, yes, she accepted them all apart from one that was very different from all the others and she rememebered and could recognise it from our daytime attempt. Here is the story https://peakd.com/hive-106444/@fotostef/more-and-some-more. A couple of weeks later another mama hen accepted the rejected one, even though it was way bigger than her newborns. Again by putting the little chick under her belly while she was sleeping. So simple and so effective!!!