Feeling like a mother hen
By PAT WICK
© Another Day in the Country
In our other life, when we lived in California, we considered ourselves rural dwellers living on a couple acres of precious Napa Valley soil. I always had a garden. We had horses. That was the extent of our farming. And then we moved to Kansas — what we like to refer to as the REAL country — and commenced to do similar things.
We have less land, but I mow more grass. As for horses, I decided to settle for riding a neighbors' every once in a while. Gardening we do, of course. I've wanted chickens. We have four chicken houses.
In fact, our first attempt at roofing and restoring occurred on the chicken house in our back yard. Not only did we replace the roof, we dug up the old brick floor and reset it, added a window (came close to adding curtains), a new door and we had ourselves a playhouse which generated our friend Ray at the lumber yard saying, "Are chickens going back in there?"
After we'd been here for a couple of years, I said to my sister, "The kids don't use that playhouse any more, maybe we should get some chickens." She looked at me with that "You've got to be kidding," expression on her face. "Really?" she said. But when it came time for my birthday she gave me a gift certificate and a McMurray Hatchery catalog. "If you really want chickens," she said, "get them from here — they have exotics."
I looked over the catalog of wonderful chickens — more breeds than I knew existed. But I chickened out, so to speak. When you get right down to it, chickens are a lot of responsibility. So I put the catalog away for awhile. And then the chicken bug bit again and I started looking through that catalog.
"How could I choose?" I wondered. Would I get chickens for laying, chickens for eating, chickens for just looking? My sister favored the latter. "We eat chicken once in awhile," I announced to my sister. "Why not eat our own? We'll know how they are raised. We'll know how they've been fed. We'll know they are healthy."
"Who's going to butcher them?" she said. "Not me!" Again, I set aside the catalog.
Last year, as my birthday approached, the chicken notion strutted by yet again and then I thought about being out of town and our winter trip we were planning for Hawaii and I nixed the chicks. And then I got an e-mail from McMurray Hatchery, a couple of weeks ago, about an assorted bargain run of chickens. This assortment business piqued my interest. I could have all kinds of chicks. I wouldn't have to choose just one kind.
After much deliberation, soul-searching, and advice asking, I just ordered those chicks. I got 25 of the assortment, six Araucanas and they threw in one "exotic" as a prize! Suddenly, I felt like an expectant mother, readying a spot for 32 chicks.
Our friend Paula started listing supplies we'd need. "You've got to keep them warm at first," she said, "Do you have a brooder light?" By Sunday we had feeders and watering cans (matching), special chick feed, medicine for the water, and the requisite light.
Monday morning early, we got the call from the post office, "Your baby chicks are in," said Kathy, "They're just peeping away." We were so excited, oohing and ahhing at the new babies and showing them off to Tony on the way home.
Tony told his friends and soon we realized those chicks were the talk of the town! At the moment we have them housed on Mom's back porch. Per Paula's instructions, we introduced each chick to water as they came out of the box. We scattered feed on the newspapers and watched them hunt and peck. We sat around the edges of their confinement and marveled at all the different colors and personalities. Mom sat out by the chicks as she stemmed the green beans instead of staying at the kitchen sink. These chicks are so much fun!
Late last night I decided I'd better check on the new babies again to make sure they were warm enough for the night. "I can do this," I said to Tooltime Tim, "You go on home and go to bed." "I'd better go with you," he retorted. "You aren't going to know what to look for!" We peered in at the chicks sitting contentedly under the lamp. "They're fine!" Tim announced, "They aren't huddled in a pile, which would tell us they are cold!"
It's another day in the country and I've got to admit, "I didn't know that!" So far as chicks are concerned, this mother hen has a lot to learn!
