I dreamed of baby chicks last night.  I have been mentally calculating how many days our hen has been on the nest, and I just kept getting 21 days.  We were beginning to wonder if our rooster was maybe infertile, but no, he has earned his keep.  Gabe, Ben and myself  went out to feed the goats this morning and I heard a "peep, peep" from the chicken coop.  Babies!!   The nest is up high in the coop, and 2 little ones had fallen to the ground.  Gabe gently picked them up, and the hen quickly pushed them back under her.  

Since the nest is off the ground, we decided to move the entire thing into our greenhouse.  We recently bought a dog crate that we were using to transport the goats, but it has now been transformed into a chicken brooder.  Gabe gently picked up the hen, then the chicks, then the eggs.  One of the eggs had a chick emerging!  Gabe swooned, and I thought he was going to pass out in the chicken house (I had flashbacks of my husband when Gabe was being born!).  Long story short, they are firmly ensconced in the dog crate, hen on her nest, babies peeking out, eggs hatching, with a tarp thrown over the top for good measure (and privacy).  We are very proud of our diligent hen.  Who would have imagined that our baby chick from last spring (our sole survivor of the racoon attack) would now be a mama?  I'll post pictures soon!!

Oh, and we did get the goats.  Two does, both newly pregnant.  They are very strong-willed.  They love the boys, and they are great escape artists.  And very, very wary of our dog. 

And on a side note, for you gentlemen farmers like us,  who are experiencing all this for the 1st time.  The hen has only left her nest 4 or 5 times in the 21 days, and when I say leave, I mean only for a few minutes at a time.  She would gulp down water and gobble food, then hurry back.  The really neat thing, though, is the fact that when she would get up, the Plymouth Rock hen would rush in and sit on the nest until the other one returned.  Gabe said,  "That's just so beautiful.  She's like their aunt."  I think she must have added an egg or two to the nest, but whatever.  It's all very cool.