**To read the previous article about how I found my broody hen click here**

Today mother hen got out of the coop to stretch her wings for the first time since deciding to hatch her own chicks. She is a full week in an no doubt cramping up and getting a little sore.

Hatching eggs has to be hard work for a hen. Constantly turning them and checking on them. And I would have to assume that sitting on them can’t be that comfortable.

Lucky for her, hatching chicks only takes three weeks! Imagine we reproduced so quickly!?!

Two weeks to go and I think I am more excited than she is. She is still atop 23 eggs!! Ridiculous, I know. I’d have to assume it would be too difficult to keep so many perfectly warmed and turned but I will still end up with quite a few babes running around.

I have been all over the internet learning all there is to know about hatching chicks. I’ve found a really helpful site BackYardChickens and it has been so useful. Great forums too! I should have found this earlier as an article on this site has inspired me to create my own chicken feed.

I still need to put the fence back up around the coop. I’ve been allowing them free roaming throughout the yard all summer but with the little ones on the way I’d prefer they were more contained. I am also unsure how Foghorn ( our roo) will treat them. I am not sure yet if I will need to separate them or not.

There is also another decision… do I remove them from mother hen after hatching and care for them the first week or two? Or do I allow her to continue to mother and care for them?

A lot I will decide over the next two weeks but I’d have to think that the real decisions will be made as they start to poke their adorable little heads out and join the world 🙂

***Update*** One of the chicks has hatched! CLICK HERE to see the pictures and read all about it!