Some will understand this, several may not, but it is just one of those things that I feel I have to write about.
Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but we are raising bantam chickens (small chickens) and a couple of turkeys. So when people ask if we have pets, typically I say no...or at least I used to.
It is funny how I've become attached to our chickens. We started with 12 chicks. We didn't know if they were males or females and it has been such an awesome adventure watching them grow and take on personalities, just like children. After they were "mature" enough to notice a gender, we had 7 roosters and 5 hens! Might I add in here, we live in a subdivision too...luckily one that is full of weekenders and vacationers, so the "noise" really only bothers us. In the past two months, we had to place 4 roosters out in the yard, which they did AMAZING bug control, but as nature would have it, they are all missing and presumed eaten by a fox, hawk, something that killed and took them away.
Not a horrible thing in some ways, we didn't need 7 roosters, eventually something was going to happen to them, the one was very aggressive towards David and well, 6:00am crowing out the bedroom window wasn't appreciated either, but it was nice having them around. In some ways I miss them and ofcourse the kids have no one to feed the stale cereal and table scraps too without going down to the coop.
Today was the worst EVER for me in raising chickens. We started getting eggs about a couple months ago as well...they are incredibly small compared to store bought eggs, but to be expected from such small chickens too. They are about 1.5" at their largest. We have 3 hens now laying eggs and we know this because they ALL lay a different color egg. We have a light brown egg, white-ish egg and a green egg. For a few weeks now one hen has been laying on her eggs all day, every day. You can't get her off them to save your life.
And I swore up and down it was because she had babies in her eggs, but since we couldn't tell when exactly they were laid we weren't sure. So we've been waiting and waiting and nothing has hatched. Today I went down to the coop and checked on our chirpies and decided to get the other eggs out, candle them to make sure nothing was inside and so forth, but the green ones we can't see into using the light...so I just leave them there.
Well the hen, who we've named "Hawk" because she looks like one in many ways, decided to get off the green eggs, so I picked one up and wanted to try and candle it again. Well on my way up, I tripped on the garden hose and the egg dropped, cracked apart and I saw the yolk and though "phew, at least there wasn't a baby in there." As I went to pick it up, I saw a beak...there was a baby. It was trying to breathe, it chirped and I started to bawl my eyes out. I thought maybe I can get it out of the shell and we could save the baby, so I screamed for my husband and he came from inside the house to down where I was. He saw the baby and knowing it was going to pass away, grabbed a shovel.
Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but we are raising bantam chickens (small chickens) and a couple of turkeys. So when people ask if we have pets, typically I say no...or at least I used to.
It is funny how I've become attached to our chickens. We started with 12 chicks. We didn't know if they were males or females and it has been such an awesome adventure watching them grow and take on personalities, just like children. After they were "mature" enough to notice a gender, we had 7 roosters and 5 hens! Might I add in here, we live in a subdivision too...luckily one that is full of weekenders and vacationers, so the "noise" really only bothers us. In the past two months, we had to place 4 roosters out in the yard, which they did AMAZING bug control, but as nature would have it, they are all missing and presumed eaten by a fox, hawk, something that killed and took them away.
Not a horrible thing in some ways, we didn't need 7 roosters, eventually something was going to happen to them, the one was very aggressive towards David and well, 6:00am crowing out the bedroom window wasn't appreciated either, but it was nice having them around. In some ways I miss them and ofcourse the kids have no one to feed the stale cereal and table scraps too without going down to the coop.
Today was the worst EVER for me in raising chickens. We started getting eggs about a couple months ago as well...they are incredibly small compared to store bought eggs, but to be expected from such small chickens too. They are about 1.5" at their largest. We have 3 hens now laying eggs and we know this because they ALL lay a different color egg. We have a light brown egg, white-ish egg and a green egg. For a few weeks now one hen has been laying on her eggs all day, every day. You can't get her off them to save your life.
And I swore up and down it was because she had babies in her eggs, but since we couldn't tell when exactly they were laid we weren't sure. So we've been waiting and waiting and nothing has hatched. Today I went down to the coop and checked on our chirpies and decided to get the other eggs out, candle them to make sure nothing was inside and so forth, but the green ones we can't see into using the light...so I just leave them there.
Well the hen, who we've named "Hawk" because she looks like one in many ways, decided to get off the green eggs, so I picked one up and wanted to try and candle it again. Well on my way up, I tripped on the garden hose and the egg dropped, cracked apart and I saw the yolk and though "phew, at least there wasn't a baby in there." As I went to pick it up, I saw a beak...there was a baby. It was trying to breathe, it chirped and I started to bawl my eyes out. I thought maybe I can get it out of the shell and we could save the baby, so I screamed for my husband and he came from inside the house to down where I was. He saw the baby and knowing it was going to pass away, grabbed a shovel.
I just sat there crying, I have never killed anything by accident or on purpose in my life...okay correction, 1 deer that ran in front of my car a few years back...but nothing like this. I felt so helpless, I still do. Holding this little one in my hands, was like holding one of my children. The baby blinked, tried moving it's wings, gasped for air and as it passed away, the baby cradled against my thumb...I lost it. This was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever dealt with...knowing this baby didn't stand a chance, but wanting to hope otherwise.
We buried the little one and I named the baby Lily ~ it was white, slightly feathered and so innocent. There will be eggs hatching sometime this week and maybe even into next, each one will be bittersweet for me, and each one will be a blessing.
I know this will come across slightly silly to some of you to be so worked up over a chicken, but they are a part of our family in many ways...and well I just cry a lot more lately that I used to...I am more sensitive and more appreciative of the things most take for granted.
Hope each of you have had a wonderful weekend and may God bless each of you!
The Kidds
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