CAMPING OUT UNDER THE STARS

 ... But still cuddling in to mummy

 THE WEATHER has been absolutely glorious these last few days prompting some of the hens to opt for a night out rather than sleeping indoors.

UNDER THE WING: These three chicks have a night out and

a cuddle from their protective mother hen

 Just as the sun was setting I caught this caring mummy cuddling in to her three chicks as they created their own perch on the hen house roof.
 She's virtually sitting on one while giving a wing each to the other two.
 She hatched her trio of Scots Dumpys about two months ago; a couple are Cuckoo, just like her, and the other (under the left wing on the far right of the picture) is black. They're too young for me to identify their gender but I hope they're all hens as it took ages to sell my surplus cockerels.
 In the meantime, elsewhere in the hen pen,
there's some weird shenanighans going down with two of the adult black Dumpys.

MOTHERS-IN-WAITING: while 

Horatio, one of the cockerels

looks on at the back.

 Both appear to have gone broody at the same time and are sort of job sharing sitting on the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch - it takes around 21 days. Their shifts continually merge but the two seem quite happy with each other's company in the single egg box, but how they'll cope when the chicks start to hatch is anyone's guess. I'm not sure what the little ones are going to make of it either ... I mean how will they tell who is their mummy and how will the job share work out then? I'm sure Nature has all the answers but until then we'll all have to play the waiting game.
 And, of course, I've learned not to count my chickens - all the little white chicks that hatched late Spring failed to survive beyond 24 hours. So I'm still without white chicks although the Cuckoos and blacks appear to be thriving.
 As usual, if you have any advice, solutions or observations drop me a line.