Our barn is full of surprises!

I have been trying to prepare Daisy for kidding time.  To make her more comfortable when the time comes, I have been getting her used to the "birthing room" or "nursery", aka the turkey coop with baby turkeys partitioned in 1/3, and a bin full of baby chicks.

Well, today the "Nursery" filled up a little bit more!  Surprise!

When Patrick was giving the goats more water, he saw a little yellow head poke out from under the barn.  He asked me how one of the polish chicks got out.  I did a headcount...6 polish chicks.  Then it struck us all, a rogue broody hen!

After remembering the fate of Brownie's babies (let's just say that of 17, Sandy the rooster is the lone survivor and that's only because we captured him), we decided that there were too many predators and dangers around the barn, so we lured them out with  the promise of food and water.

We've captured 8 of the 9 here.  They still have their hornbills, so they have likely hatched in the last day.  We ended up with 3 yellow, 3 striped and 3 brown.

Now Trapper Damon is trying to capture the hen to put her in with her chicks.  Hens brood chicks SO much better than we do, as long as they have protection, food and water.

After 21 days of sitting on eggs, she's very hungry!

Success!  It's Hanna's "Baby Gigi"!  She's an Ameraucana hen hatched here by our very own Jill.

Unplanned chicks are kind of cool.  Reminds us of how we aren't always in charge of things.  Gigi will raise her babies and maybe we'll find new homes for a few, and add some to our flock.  And we'll always remember "The Great Chick Roundup of 2012".  But seriously, we are running out of room in the "Nursery".

The ticker on the right says 8 days until kidding time.  I`m getting nervous for Daisy.  I am convinced that this time she is pregnant.  I think I felt hooves in her belly kicking me.  And her udder is definitely getting bigger.  We think that Lily is also pregnant, but it is not as easy to tell.  Perhaps because she is a larger girl, or maybe not as far along, or perhaps Daisy has 2 and Lily only has 1.  Time will tell!

I didn't worry as much about Penny, she had been around the block a few times and made birthing twins look much too easy.  I will feel so much better once their first kidding is behind us.