Chickens

I just have to say that this year so far has been a learning experience in animal husbandry.  We have chickens, two adult hens and 3 chicks.  All was well until about two months ago when our neighbor's rooster flew into our yard to "visit" our hens.  They used to roam freely, but after he came I locked them up in their pen and spent two days trying to toss him over the fence gently with our rake.  I was afraid he would scratch me with his spurs, and I didn't want to hurt him.  Then I got frustrated and started throwing rocks at him.  I felt really bad because I surprised myself by being a pretty good shot.  After this did nothing, I decided to just pick him up and throw him over.  I cornered him, caught him by the tail, then grabbed him and tossed him over our 6-foot fence.  I can't see over the fence, so I climbed up on our picnic table to see if he was OK.  He strutted over to his rooster buddy, and they went on their merry way.  I think he just honestly didn't know how to get home.  He never once scratched me, and was very sweet.  He came back over the fence a couple weeks later, but I just picked him up and tossed him on over.  Poor little rooster.  I'm sorry I threw rocks at you.

We also got 3 chicks about a month ago. The kids are ages 3 and 4, and we all went to IFA and they got to help pick out the chicks.  We got home, and put the chicks in our kitchen to stay warm. The next day the kids were doing great, petting them gently and being very sweet.   I decided that I could run and do my hair quick for 10 minutes - the chicks would be safe, we'd talked about being gentle and careful, and I had sweet kids, right?  Well, when I stopped blowdrying my hair I heard lots of laughing and lots of loud cheeping.  I thought, 'oh, they're having such a good time, how cute.'  So I finished doing my hair, and then I went to check on the kids. 

To my horror, when I looked into the chick's box, I saw three soaking wet, dead chicks.  I yelled at my kids and sent them to their rooms.  Then I picked up each chick and noticed that one was still moving a little bit.  I toweled it off, held it in my hands and blew on it to keep it warm.  It slowly revived, and started to cheep in a very distressed way.  I kept it warm for a little longer then set up it's box in the garage with the heat lamp on.  I was sure it would die, but I didn't have the heart to kill it in case it might make it.  So the kids and I loaded up in the SUV to go visit my sister  who was visiting because our grandpa's funeral was two days before.  Needless to say, it had been a bad week and I needed to take my mind off that little chick.

We spent the day with my dad and Allison, and when we got home, I hesitantly checked on the chick.  And there he was!!!  Fluffy and dry, and walking and cheeping and looking like a normal little chick who had not just had a near-death experience.  I couldn't believe it!  I was so happy.

The next day, the family went back to IFA to get two replacement chicks.  They are the same breed as the others, and to save emotional scarring on the kids, they have the same names as those they replaced.  They are all alive and well and growing fast, and they now only have strictly supervised visits from the kids. 

The day after the chick fiasco was resolved, I went to go check on the adult hens who were roaming the yard freely again because the dog had pulled up the chicken wire on one side of their pen while trying to get to a blueberry muffin I had fed the chickens.  So there was a big gaping hole in the pen and the chickens came in and out at will.  I found the chickens laying down in some tall weeds.  I had noticed Wally (our extremely large beagle) digging excitedly at something and barking like crazy earlier that day, so when one of the hens didn't run away as I got closer I got worried.  Sure enough, Wally had chewed a big hole in her back.  I gently picked her up and put her in our brood box, then put our red wagon in front of the hole in the chicken wire and came in to check the internet to see what to do.  I might have kicked the dog really hard several times on my way in. That darn dog. 

According to several discussion threads on backyard chickens, being bitten by dogs and severely wounded is quite common, and if left alone the hens usually make a full recovery.  So I checked on the hen each day, made sure she was eating and drinking and left the poor thing to suffer.   We were sure she was crippled and had decided to put her out of her misery once the chicks were old enough to move into the coop with the other hen.  Then today when I went out to feed the hens, she was out, walking around normally and looking great.  Not crippled anymore, her tail feathers have come upright again, and I think she's just fine.  Yay!!!!

So I'm slowly learning that dogs, kids, and chickens should be supervised when they're together, and otherwise kept separate.   Hopefully my learning experiences will take a break for a while because I could use it.