The big news today is that three (so far) baby chicks were hatched by our hens - there are still about 15 eggs in the nest so this may not be the end of the brooding season. This was what you might called unplanned as we think the 6 hens and one rooster we have is enough --- but the hens had other plans. They were fairly aggressive when we tried to pry the eggs loose three weeks ago so we decided to let nature take it's course. Now, after the 21 day incubation period, here are the chicks.
It was cool because Owen, one of our grandchildren from Greenville SC , was here and got to help us catch the chicks and move them to a box in the garage. He will always remember today and made three trips down to the chicken coop looking for more. So much for the classroom incubation process when the hen's God-given role is never mentioned. he saw the real thing as God designed it.
So here's how it went...we went down this morning to let the chickens out of the coop. There was one little chick walking around on top of the hen who was brooding in the basket. We scooped it up, listened for others, and brought it up to the house. Emma, Owen's sister, who had been here earlier in the week, had already prepared a box in the garage with paper towels, some food, and water.
We showed the chick to Owen and ate breakfast. Then Dwight and Owen headed down to the chicken yard for another "chick check". This time the hens were off their nest and walking around the chicken yard with two more baby chicks. Boy, were they protective! How they got off the nest with the chick, we're not sure. But they pecked Dwight and Owen on the feet before they could steal away two more chicks. They're all in the garage with a nice protective wire lid made by Dwight and my dad - to keep the cats away.
Owen checked for chicks one more time before he headed home this afternoon.
Oh, there is the matter of the BLT sandwich that Della decided to eat at lunch. Dwight was with Susan's Dad in the garage making a wire top for the chick box and Della sneaked into the kitchen and ate half of one of Dwight's prized sandwiches. He had bought a 1.5 pound tomato at the Hillsboro farmer's market on Saturday just for these sandwiches. The slices of tomato were so big that they hung off all 4 sides of the bread. He had prepared the sandwiches for our lunch just before Susan's dad needed help with the wire for the chick box. While we were in the garage on this important project, Della managed to find the sandwiches on the table. This was not like her at all but they must have smelled good. Dwight was torn between being very angry and bursting out laughing - the latter won the day.
On other fronts, the kitchen garden is going great - tomatoes, squash, beans, swiss chard are all prolific right now. Okra is slowly coming, and other kinds of squash plus more beans.
The original garden has gotten away from us with so many things going on - Susan's father and his wife Myra have been here since mid-June and a steady stream of family to be with us and visit with him - he's 86 and has hearing and vision issues but loves to see his family and friends. Susan has been so good about cooking for them and driving them on errands. Also the Seawell school animals are vacationing here for the summer. They're not too much of a burden but do add to the list -- keeping the yard presentable -- lots of new church friends to get to know and spend time with --- etc.
All in all, it's a delightful season - one that we rejoice in as we sit on the front porch in the evenings and watch the bats whiz by and the deer play in the meadow.
