Chicklets!

As we sipped coffee on the screen porch on Saturday morning, we could hear peeps from underneath the porch. The dog and cats snuffled the crack in the floorboards.
We crawled underneath to peak. One shell, and one chick!

Later, there were two. Then four. More? We kept the cats inside all day and night, and kept the other chickens in their coop until we were sure all the hatching was done.

This morning, the hen (either Bonnie, Billie, or Barbie- they're indistinguishable) had crept out within reaching distance. We wanted to put her and the peeps in the chicken tractor, where they'd be safe from cats, pullets, and raccoons. Jake held her and handed me all the chicks. Six! They're tiny- each about the size of a pingpong ball!

They're now safely installed in their temporary home. The other chickens spent some time crowded around the edges of the chicken tractor this morning observing their new coopmates, clucking their congratulations, it seemed.

And... there are not one but TWO buff ducks sitting on a big nest of eggs in the duck house! They mean business. It was kind of scary trying to take a picture.

Hopefully they'll be more successful than Agnes last spring!