Mom's Musings

CHICKENS!!!

A few weeks ago some of our friends offered us five chickens that they could not longer keep.  We have talked about getting chickens so we took them up on their offer.  My husband then spent all his free time building a beautiful chicken coop, a design he came up with on his own.  I am so proud of the finished product!

The chicken day came and my kids and I headed over to their town to pick up our chickens.  They were beautiful!  We loaded them into a dog crate and drove them to their new home.  Proudly we showed them the beautiful chicken coop that had been built just for their pleasure and safe-keeping.  The kids adored the chickens and named each one.  We looked forward to morning to see if they would give us any eggs.

The next morning, bright and early, the kids and I got up and headed out to see if there were any eggs.  There were two beautiful ones waiting just for us.  We were thrilled!  Sadly, that day we had to leave our chickens for a couple hours to attend some of our homeschool group's classes.  After letting the chickens run around the yard for bit, feeding them a delicious breakfast of dried meal worms and lettuce, we packed the chickens up in their coop for safekeeping from hawks and headed out.

The day was extra warm and we headed home a little earlier to check on the chickens.  It was too late.  I opened the door to the coop... two chickens stood to greet me but three chickens did not.  Two of those later chicken were breathing fast shallow breaths... the other one wasn't moving at all.  I started yelling for the kids!  I opened up the back door where the still chicken lay, she was dead and stiff.  I grabbed the other two chickens and headed indoors where our AC had kept our home cool.  We packed ice all around their hot bodies, their heads were burning up!  I mixed sugar water and using a syringe, started to squirt sugar water down their throats.  My son was screaming for me to save them and take them to my hospital; my daughter was praying for a healing from the Lord. It was a very loud, very traumatic scene.  I was vacillating between extreme anger at myself for causing this and sadness that we had lost a chicken and it was looking like we were about to lose two more.  I also was wondering how I was going to tell my husband and our friends.

***Due to the graphic nature of the pictures (because we did take pictures) I will not share the pictures that pertain to this part of the story with you.  But, for those of you with strong stomachs and curious minds I can share them personally with you :-)  ***

I think one chicken had a seizure, she let out a squawk, her head jerked back and forth a few time, then all was still.  My son's screaming reached an even more fervent pitch as he gently held her head and I pronounced her death.  I then went to work on the other chicken.  I decided to try dousing her water and getting her to the sink started spraying her down with cold water and continued the sugar water down the throat.  She started shaking the water off her head and I thought she was coming around.  Then she quietly laid her head down and closed her eyes and all was still.  I felt hot anger creeping up my neck, then severe sadness and guilt.  I grabbed my phone and ran outdoors to get away from the shrieks and crying inside the house.  I called my husband.  After telling him what had happened through my tears he told me very matter-of-factly, "Well Babe, looks like you need to figure out how to clean chickens."  Let me tell you now that my husband grew up in a small dessert town where farm animals were more a norm.  I grew up in Southern California where the only farm animals I saw were at a petting zoo or shrink wrapped in the meat section at the grocery store.

I took a big gulp and told myself that I could handle this, but first, I needed to buy baby chicks for my very distraught children.  We loaded up in the suburban and headed around the corner were we bought three baby chicks.  The girl who helped us was the same girl who helped us the day before when we were buying the chicken feed.  She was dismayed to learn that three had already died and confirmed that yes, they should had been left out, chickens are very heat intolerant.  Lesson learned.  After picking out their cute new feathery friends, we headed back to the house where the big job waited for me.  I set-up the pack-n-play (because doesn't everyone put chickens in their pack-n-plays?) lined it with plastic and got the baby chicks settled in their new home then headed to the kitchen.

Racer

Butterscotch

Butters is the white one on the end, she poops a lot, the kid's said she is mine.

With advise from my mom and YouTube I was able to de-feather and de-gut three chickens.  By the third chicken I was ready to make my own YouTube video.  There were feathers and guts everywhere.  One side of my sink had three heads and 6 feet in it, the other side was splattered with blood.  My kids were slightly grossed out, slightly enthralled at this new process.  My husband was beaming with pride at his wife for cleaning chickens and forgave me for killing them in the first place... and for buying three babies that are now going to live in the living room for the next month.  Our friends also took the news alright, extended grace, forgiveness, and correction and we still remain friends to this day.  And we are still getting eggs from the survivors!

Lessons Learned:
Chickens are heat intolerant.
My kids were able to see death right up close. Something we are very sheltered from in this society.
Does God always answer prayers... yes, sometimes his answer is no, a great lesson for my kids.
Baby chicks are very cute and make us laugh.
My new nickname is "Killer"
Making bone broth makes your home smell delicious
Homemade chicken and dumplings are very tasty

They like to stand at the back door and watch us... they are kind of like dogs! 

* Some chickens were hurt and even killed in the making of this blog post.