Dot and Polka - Hamburgs - Chickens.

 A story of 2 Hamburg hens, Polka and Dot:
Hamburgs although not officially "Game Birds" lean towards the wilder type of chicken, they are smaller, lighter bodied, have retained the ability to fly, and in my opinion kept some wild mating and brooding instincts. They will get friendly, but it takes a lot of handling and treats. I have a trio of Hamburgs, Fancy, the rooster and the sisters Polka and Dot. They were raised together as chicks, and despite being free ranged with the Legbars and the laying hens, These three and an odd friend, a HUGE, Blue UK Style Orpington hen, named Steely Dan, have their own little flock. The Legbar Rooster does not mate Fancy's hens. Early to mid May I couldn't find Polka, I walked the lawn and the yard, yet I didn't find the dreaded feather pile, nor did I find Polka. She is a smaller hen, so I feared an owl or hawk had grabbed her. A few days later I saw her in the backyard acting broody, for any of you who have seen a broody hen, the behavior is obvious, the hen runs around frantically, all puffed up like a turkey, from food dish, to water, to dust bath, all while making odd sounds and acting like a victim of a Zombie Apocalypse. She is a sly little hen and it took a while to see her fly over the backyard fence into the front yard, where I followed her to the shrubs. I now knew she was sitting on eggs and ready to produce a little family. 

Meanwhile Dot also came up missing, in the morning hours I would see Dot come in from the back of the yard, puffed, crazy and zombieish, and promptly disappear again. Polka, would fly over the front-yard fence in the evening, acting just as I described Dot. I was more concerned about Dot, as there are dogs and predators in backyard, and the bridal path behind it. Several days ago, to my surprise and delight, Dot emerged with 7 chicks, and later that evening had 13. (Don't ask me where the others were the first time she came around) Fancy roams with her and the chicks, feeding the chicks special treats and bugs he finds. This is also unusual, in most breeds the roosters do not pay much attention to chicks. Dot’s chicks are 11 Maran/Legbar Crosses, and 2 purebred Hamburgs, there is one pokey little Hamburg always getting left behind until Dot comes back to the sound of his “Peeping”. 

Polka is still making her evening rounds, chickless. Today, I suffered scratches and a poked eye pushing through the shrubs to find Polka's nest. Her eggs would now be around a month old, and likely too old to hatch. I found her eggs, and candled one. It is full, but I did not detect any movement in the egg, there were some cracked and broken eggs, but no obvious "Zipped" eggs meaning a chick had hatched. I gently put the egg back and snapped a quick photo. It looked like a wonderful and well protected nest with plenty of eggs, so I am not sure what went wrong. For 4 days, Dot has managed to keep all 13 of her chicks alive and is free roaming the entire yard with her clutch. At night she takes them deep in the brush pile to sleep. (Dangerous, but so far effective). Polka's nest is unlikely to produce any chicks, unless she was laying new eggs as she sat. Not likely, but possible. As I mentioned yesterday, I am seeking some ready to "hatch" eggs or day old chicks to give her, so that all of her efforts have not been in vain. I wish I could have shared Dot's bounty with her.
To be continued... Will Dot's chicks continue to thrive? (That is a lot of chicks for one little hen) Will Polka manage to hatch any eggs, or will I find her a chick or two? Stay tuned for our next episode of "All My Chickens - Dot and Polka"