It’s the second time we have a bear rip open the chicken coop and decimate the flock.
Integrated with the Flock
We integrated mama chicken and her chicks with the rest of the flock. It went extremely well, I’m not sure what’s different from last time.
Tiny Chickens
We had a broody hen again this year, we gave her a few fertilized eggs but none of them made it so Nicole pulled her trick of introducing store bought chicks as if they had just hatched. It worked last time and it worked this time again. We’re careful to make the substitution as if they came from the eggs so the subterfuge isn’t revealed. Maybe we don’t even have to and she’d take them even if they showed up with her eggs still under her, hard to tell but we’re not up to test that theory. It wasn’t her fertilized eggs, it’s not the eggs’ chicks… Oh well, she’s clearly a happy mom now.
Esther really wants to pet them and they grow up fast, so we went and grabbed one to “traumatize” it. We don’t traumatize it at all but the theatrics of the scene make it seem as though we are. I’m worried Esther might think “traumatizing” means “cuddling”, she’ll find out soon enough. We play a lot with words in this household.
Esther thanked me for fishing her a chick for the rest of the day, she really loves traumatizing them.