One chick's incredible journey
"Soooo...."
I said. "I think the best way to move the hen and her chick to
their new home is for one of us to grab the hen and the other the
chick. What do you think?"
Mark had finished
building a
protected nook in
the fenced off portion of the chicken pasture, and we were dying to get
the chick to its new home. The brood coop was damp and stinky,
both from accumulated poop and from the ten eggs that didn't hatch
(ticking time bombs, just waiting for a wrong move to send waves of
rotten egg scent through the farm.) But the mother hen is pretty
intimidating and I was, frankly, a bit afraid to grab her.
"I'll
get the hen," said my brave husband, donning his gloves. And he
did --- one minute later, the squawking bundle of white feathers was
being deposited into the chicken pasture.
The trouble was, I
couldn't catch the chick. It was just too fast for me, slipping
in and out of the brood coop, then fleeing in fright into our
barn. I went in after it, trying to tease it out of a stall full
of old boards, until Mark called a halt to the proceedings.
"Just wait a minute and
see where it is," he admonished me. We waited, and seconds later,
the fuzzball reappeared.
"Mom! Mom!
Where are you?!" it cheeped desperately.
"Cluck, cluck, over
here," she replied from across the yard.
We stepped back, and the
chick sprang forward. "Mom! Mom!" it exclaimed as it scaled
the plum's raised bed. "Mom! Mom!" as it trotted through
the blackberries. "Mom! Mom!" as it crossed the driveway,
its mother now in sight.
"Well, get in here," the
mother clucked soothingly, and her adoptee slipped through the chicken
wire to be reunited at last.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Hahahaaa.. been there and done that. I know three tricks to help.. -Do it at night when they are helpless. -Get yourself a few nets. I have a big fishing net for adults and a small minnow net for chicks. The nets are lifesavers.. for me and the birds. -And the best way to deal with a broody is to grab her neck. Distract her with one hand in front of her and then swoop with the other to secure that sharp, biting beak. Once you have gentle control of the head, the body follows. Keep up the good work guys. You are inspirations! jen