Birth Announcement

After much sitting, Chicken Lickin' hatched one of seven eggs. This little one is very strong and growing already. William, as you can see, is very enthralled with the new arrival.

You might be interested to know that the very first day, chickies start eating and drinking. Unlike some helpless baby birds, they find a lot of food on their own.

Chicken Lickin' does feed him a little from her beak, but mostly, she'll make a special sound that says "this is food". The chick will come out from under her and start eating.

The sound she makes is similar to the rooster's sound he makes when food thrown to them. He'll pick up a piece, put it down, make the sound and point it out for the hens. He won't eat it, but goes around pointing out choice pieces for his harem. When he's satisfied that everyone is eating, then he'll take a bite.

Chickens, lacking teeth, have to peck food, to break it down into smaller pieces. I had to laugh at one chicken that had found a particularly nice morsel, but too big to swallow. All the hens were chasing her down for a share. She could not eat the food because she had to put it down on the ground to eat it, but she could not put it down or it would be stolen. What a dilemma!