Chicken Tales

Last night as I was getting scratch for the chickens and  hay for the horses, I kept hearing a cheeping. After a few moments of disbelief, I found a little Sebright-mix hen obviously sitting on chicks. We are having torrential rains and dropping temperatures, not a good situation for tiny chicks surviving.

I quickly found a crate, scooped up the family (not quite as easily as that sounds) and took them down to the heated outbuilding. There I cleaned out a cage, layered lots of shavings, and set in the opened crate.

A short while later Mom was sitting contentedly on chicks. When I checked the crate, there was one tiny chick flattened at the back. I knew it couldn't be dead, just cold, so I immediately put it in warm water. After 5 or 10 minutes she started peeping and gasping, and finally acting normal. Now I had a warm chick who was soaking wet. Another run up the hill to the house to the hair dryer, and back down with a fluffy, active day-old chick.

Today all 8 chicks are doing well, either warming under Mom or running around eating. What a time to decide to have a family!