Oprah's brood is hatching

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Oprah is my black cochin frizzle bantam hen. Harpo is my white cochin frizzle rooster.

He doesn't know it, but he's becoming a daddy, even as I write.

Oprah began sitting a nest three weeks ago. I marked it on the calendar. I was expecting them to hatch tomorrow. Guess I counted wrong?

I was going to bed last night when I heard peeping. Oprah's nest is in shredded paper inside a flat, cardboard box. The box is topped with the cover to a cat litter box. It's sitting on my night stand, by my bed. Oprah's my smallest hen. The roosters pester her -- and Harpo -- something fierce. Harpo mostly lives outside the compound I built, to get away from the big guys.

Oprah began begging to come in the house. I've been letting her come into the kitchen and my bedroom when things got tense outside. She laid an egg on my bed, so, I thought I should give her a nesting box.

When she began to be really serious, and was having regular "relations" with Harpo, I decided to let her try to hatch them.

I have another small hen, Sake, who gets along better with the yard birds. She had a nest of two eggs, so I brought them in for Oprah to brood. One of them has a "pip" hole in it this morning, and a little beak is popping out. I can't wait to see what it'll look like. I can't remember what breed Sake is, but she's African, a small bantam with a long tail, mottled brown.

I have another hen, Suki, who's sitting a nest outside. She's a Japanese silkie bantam. Her guardian and protector is the duck, who keeps most roosters away, most of the time. She's sitting a nest in a crate in the yard, with the duck by her side. I don't know when she began to set, but it's about time for her nest, too. I don't know how many eggs are in it and I certainly don't know who the daddies of either Suki's or Sake's eggs might be. Could be giant mop roosters, for all I know. Anyway, the offspring ought to be interesting.

I'm building a ceramic baby feeder at the ceramics studio right now. It should be dry enough to fire, after the weekend.

Here's what frizzles are about. The first one looks like Oprah; the second looks like Harpo.