We've been out a lot the last 2 weeks hunting bear in the northeast and I have seen a mixed hatch. Now that the chicks are getting bigger the hens are starting to bring their broods into open fields after insects. There are plenty of hens with no young at all, but we have seen groups of 2 to 4 hens with four to eight young, and groups of 2 to 4 hens with 10 to 15 or so chicks. It's pretty obvious that most of the early broods didn't do as well, there are more smaller chicks than larger chicks. In October and November the big flocks will form for winter and I can get a really good count to compare to previous years counts.
