Chicken Littles

Our weather has been extremely hot lately. For those who don’t know, “extremely hot” is 90 degrees in Northern Michigan. With high humidity added in, it’s even worse. I honestly don’t know how Southerners can endure their hot weather.

Fortunately, thanks to the repairman, our central air conditioning is working. It’s almost working too well. It’s now cool enough in the house that I am wearing a sweater and I’m covered up with a comforter. But I love it. When I was a kid, it used to drive my Dad crazy when he had our window air conditioner running in the living room and I wrapped myself in a blanket. “If you are going to do that, I might as well turn off the air conditioner,” he’d grumbled. He didn’t understand that sweltering on a hot day was unendurable, but cuddling in a blanket when it’s cool (even if the cool is due to an air conditioner) is cozy. Fortunately, EJ understands completely. We are alike in many ways.

I don’t know how other people introduce new chicks to an adult flock, but I usually keep the chicks in a cage in the house until the weather is warm enough and they are big enough to put in the coop. When I first put them in the coop, I keep them caged in the “fancy coop” that is inside the large Coop. The fancy coop is 4 feet by 6 feet so chicks have room to grow and run around. Keeping the Bigs and Littles separated allows both an opportunity to get familiar with each other. I also can give the chicks “chick starting” feed without the adults eating it all. Once I feel the chicks are big enough to hold their own, I let them out to join the adults. Usually my system works well.

Yesterday I let the chicks out to mingle with the adults because I thought that maybe they were big enough. Also, I wondered if I was being overly-protective and careful because EJ’s co-worker’s chicks got out of their cage a couple of weeks ago and everything went ok with the adults. However, I discovered it was a big mistake to let our chicks out. They weren’t ready for the adult world. The adults crowded into the cage, ate the chicks’ food, and bullied them to put them in their place. The chicks freaked out like Chicken Little running around shrieking that the sky was falling. I figured it would take them a little while to adjust so I checked on them periodically to make sure they weren’t being over-bullied but didn’t interfere too much.

Then the chicks disappeared. They found hiding places. They were little enough that I feared they’d squeeze into tight-fitting places and not be able to get out of them. I decided to put them back in their fancy coop for a few more weeks, but first I had to find them.

I listened for the chicks. Adult chickens cluck; chicks peep. I heard peeping and tried to following the sound, but it was difficult knowing where it was coming from.

I found the first chick hiding in the corner squeezed between two bales of straw. She escaped me when I tried to lift her out and I had to chase her from the top of straw bales to the top of the platform to the top of the dog house and back again. I finally caught her, put her in the fancy coop, and closed the door.

I searched in, behind, and under bales of straw, behind the dog house in the coop, and any other small place I could think of. Nothing there. But I could hear peeping.

I found the second and third chicks outside and herded them one by one into the Coop and into their nice safe fancy coop.

I concluded that the other chicks must be under the Coop because I couldn’t find them anywhere else. I went into the house and changed into my torn, raggedy work jeans and then laid on the ground and shone a flashlight under the Coop. After moving to several locations, I finally spotted some chick legs underneath the Coop. I got my long staff and gently herded one out. I guided her squawking into the fancy coop. It’s harder to do than it sounds because chickens don’t like to be herded and she sometimes got around me. After number four chick was safely caged with the first three, I went back and got number 5 out from underneath the Coop and into the cage. Then I got number six out. She didn’t want to go so I had to corner her, grab her, and carry her to the others.

I recounted to make sure I had them all. Yup. All there. They will stay there for a few more weeks. The chickens–both adult and littles–calmed down once they were separated again.

I was drenched in sweat by the time I finished rounding up the chicks. I went into the house, changed into shorts, and enjoyed the coolness while cozily wrapped in a comforter.