Yesterday was a big day at the Wittekind homestead. We moved “the girls” into their outdoor coop!
We estimate these birds to be about four and a half weeks old, and despite the fact that I know they’re nowhere near full grown yet, I can’t help but think about how far they’ve come since we first brought them home back on March 7. The whole family (and a dear family friend) have put so much time and attention into those little birds, and I can’t express how fulfilling it is to know that, despite our inexperience, we’ve made it this far.
And yesterday, I had occasion to ponder just how far they’d come when I thought that we’d lost every single one of those birds that we’ve worked so hard to raise. See, my husband was making some last-minute improvements to the coop yesterday (hanging the waterer, placing D rings, etc) and my children were following him trying to help. He realized that he didn’t have the right kind of fastener to hang the chicks’ water, so he took my daughter to the hardware store. After they’d been gone for a few minutes, I decided that I wanted to go out to the coop and visit the chicks. It just so happened that our friend Sue arrived at my back door just as I was throwing the door open, so after we both recovered from the fright we’d given each other, I told her that I was going to the coop to visit the chicks and I wondered if she wanted to come with me. Of course, she wanted to join me.
As Sue and I approached the coop, I was a little concerned because I didn’t hear the chicks chirping. By the time I got to the “door side” of the coop, my heart sank. There wasn’t a single chick in the coop! That’s when I looked up and saw that the roof was left open on the hen house.
One of our cats (who isn’t supposed to be an outdoor cat, but he doesn’t know that) was nearby the coop, so I was convinced that Fatz had jumped into the coop and killed all the chicks. Fortunately, Sue’s clearer head prevailed and she said, “Well, I don’t see a single feather.”
For five minutes, we all walked around the property looking for chicks. They weren’t in trees. They weren’t in bushes. I didn’t hear their “help me!” chirps, and he weren’t finding any signs of them. As I walked around searching, I was overcome with sadness. After all, we’d worked so hard on those girls for nearly a month, and one, silly, careless mistake — my husband leaving the roof open — had resulted in us losing all our hard work. I felt so defeated.
It wasn’t long though before my husband pulled onto the property, and he hadn’t even managed to step out of his car before I gave him the bad news. “Fred! You left the roof open on the coop and ALL the chicks are gone!” I was about to cry.
He looked at me, clearly confused, and said, “What? Did you bring them outside?”
I must have looked at him like he’d sprouted a second head. “No!”
“OK, then they’re still on the porch. I haven’t brought them out yet!” All I could do was hug him, and I still nearly cried, but had I shed tears, they would have been tears of joy because I was so relieved!
After talking with Fred about it later, I learned that he thought I was playing a practical joke on him. Earlier that day, we’d been trying to teach the children about the “right” kinds of April Fool’s Day jokes to play, so it never would have crossed my mind to play such a mean joke on my husband. Because I was so distressed though, it also hadn’t occurred to me to preface my discovery with, “This isn’t an April Fool’s joke, but . . .”
I’m here to tell you that I’ve experienced much more than my fair share of disturbing emotions where those silly little chickies are concerned. We’re all having so much fun with them though, and we’re all learning a lot.
We’ve decided to continue to use a heat lamp with them at night because it’s still getting a bit too cold for them despite the unseasonably warm temperatures. It got down to 62 in the coop this morning though, and they still did well.
They’re getting more curious about their environment. They’ve been outside for over 24 hours now, and we still have to “bribe” them to come down the ramp and into the run. The chicks LOVE dandelions, so my husband started putting them on the ramp to encourage the chicks to explore. It’s been working, and I think all the chickens have been down in the run at least once now.
On a somewhat entertaining note, my husband went out to put them to bed last night and three little chickies were in the run. They had managed to work their way into a back corner under the hen house, and they were sending out their distress chirps because they couldn’t find their way back to the ramp. My daughter (who’s probably 4’6″) had to climb into the run with them, and she had to wiggle under the hen house (which is about 19″ off the ground) to “rescue” the little losties. It took a bit of work, but when my husband closed the door to the hen house, all the birds were present and accounted for.
Time is flying with these precious little birds, and before we know it, I’ll be posting pictures of our first egg. I’m sure it’s going to be quite the momentous occasion! We’re all taking such pride in our attempts to produce more of our own food, and I can see how people get hooked. There’s no turning back now! We’re hooked too!