Well, we have survived one day and one night of chicken raising. But not all the chickens did. One weak chick was trampled and didn't seem to recover, even with a solitary "hospital" stay. So sad.
But here's the funny story: Last night, as M was setting up the reptile brooder (I knew those things would come in handy some day), he had to unplug the heat lamp as he was moving things around. We had two weak chicks at that point that needed to stay warm, but weren't strong enough to extreme snuggle like the other chicks could. So I nestled them right under my sweater, Auntie Em style, and brooded away. Now I have no hands-on experience with chickens, except for when I was a little girl, but I have read a lot of books! Including the chapters on Chicken Communication. So I used a little Mother Hen language to reassure the chicks. M looked up from what he was doing with a confused expression and asked, "Was that you?" Uhhhh... yeah. He caught me. And laughed at me. And called me the Chicken Whisperer.
And then I realized I had to make dinner for my human chicks-and quick!- because we had to leave! So as I held my two chicken chicks close with one I hand, I filled a baking tray with the other hand...with chicken nuggets. What a strange thing to do! Those chicken nuggets had more meat on them than the ones I was trying to keep alive! And would my kids make the connection between chickens and chicken nuggets??? IJ was already protesting to save the lives of the roosters! E was saying, "We don't eat our chickens, Daddy!" So when I called, "Dinner time!" and heard "Yay! Chicken nuggets!" all was well (but still weird).
My husband's pathetic doberman stood outside our bedroom door all night long whining and barking. If she lives through the day (and I'm not making any promises) she better get used to the peeping!
