TheBanyanTree: hope sings

[Pam North]

oh Paul!!!!  except for the few 'missing chicks' (how sad!), this all sounds
like great fuN!!!!  Maybe you'll get lucky enough to have a "Penny" of your
own in the bunch!!!!!!

Happy Farming!!!!!


On 2/14/06, paul <paul at remsset.com> wrote:
>
> Amen!  :)
>
>
> The new batch of chickens arrived today.  Picked them up on the way to
> work... I walked into the post office and heard them chirping from the
> back room.  Really sweet sound.   Left them in the truck, R came a
> half an hour later, took them home, and did the "scatter feed on the
> newspaper and wet their beaks so they know where the water is"
> routine.  Out of the box he had to put one chick down, it had a
> broken/dislocated leg.  Well, one foot was pointing 180 degrees the
> wrong way and the chick's eyes were already glazed (I can explain
> 'glazed' if you want).  Anyway, events occur.
>
> So.  I'm at work and the way I understand the story, he 'bout wore
> himself out over the chicks.  Says he had to check on them every 20
> minutes or so.  I think this is really funny... Mr. Shoot All The Damn
> Critters To Get Them Off The Feed Bill is stressing on baby chicks.
> "But they are cute" he says.  Then he had to go to work for a bit.
>
> I came home to an empty house, got a beer, changed clothes, checked
> e-mail (nothing WaS but I did win a nice auction on eBay), fed the
> woodstove, got a beer and went to see the chicks.  Yeah, R did a great
> job.  And of course the chicks /are/ cute.  But...  I ordered 12 each
> Black Star and Red Star (at 2.04 each) , and 12 Leghorns (at 1.95
> each), all females.  Plus the 'free rare chicken'.  FreeRare is not a
> Polish like last time.  Thank You Very Much, I don't need another
> chicken that stupid ever again.  I don't know what FreeRare is but he
> (I'm sure it's a he) is the largest chick in the entire group.  Maybe
> he will crow pretty.  Anyway, to cover "shipping losses", I was
> expecting like 13 of each kind + FreeRare, like 40 chicks in all.  Ok?
>
> R says there are 55 chicks.  I didn't unpack the chicks and counting
> baby chicks that are running around in a four by four foot box is like
> counting droplets of mercury in a bowl.  Best I can tell, I received
> 12 Black Stars, 13 Red Stars, and a TON of Leghorns.  Huh, maybe they
> had some extra Leghorns to get rid of?
>
> 55 chicks minus the one R had to put down and minus the Red Star that
> was not doing at all well when I got home... the one I cupped in my
> hand to get warm for an hour or so and decided to bring into the house
> to get it warm by the woodstove (like I need a house chicken?)(on
> carpet? with Wilma?) and remember that 2nd beer?  I was about to
> burst.  Well, it's not easy to do the zipper and underwear stuff with
> one hand.... but in the time it took to get from the barn to the EDC
> and find a basket of feathers (for a nest), the chick woke up and got
> all bright eyes like it was finally warm enough and Yeah! I feel
> good!....  So I get to the house, do my stuff, chick is still looking
> around, I walk from the bathroom to the livingroom, maybe 30 feet and
> sit on the sofa, the chick says 'chirp', nestles down and goes to
> sleep.  Cute.  I guess she got warm enough.  Says 'peep' a couple of
> minutes later... and a few minutes later, well...  head rolls over and
> shitshitshit.  shitshitdamn.
>
> It's all part of having critters.
>
> So... I have 53 chicks.  If they all live through the night.  Plus
> another 18 chickens.
>
> Oy.  And when they all start laying in 4.5 to 5 months from now...
> minus out four roosters, I could be collecting up to 67 eggs a day.
>
>
> paul
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