Group 6

Just the other day, I was walking a road here, looked left, and about 30-40 yards away….whaaaaat? A chicken hen with a whole bunch of little ones around her!

Oh boy… and Sue was in town…!

So, it was run and get a 5-gallon bucket and the fishing net to try to catch the mommy. (On an aside, farm hack: a fishing net to catch chickens, and a large one for turkeys….they work great! 🙂 ) Well, she and her babies were mostly in an agarita bush, and if you know anything about them, their leaves are very prickly.

But thankfully that didn’t end up being a real issue, as I started to gather the youngin’s and put them in the bucket. But mommy was freaking out, so I thought I should try to get her so as to lessen the chaos and potential hurt to the chicks, but when I went to try to net her, she took off like a shot. I tried chasing her, but she was really fast, and there was just no way. So, I went back and continued with the chicks.

Sue shortly arrived back from town, and soon started helping. After gathering up what we could, it was time to try to get mommy, and eventually with Sue and I working together, I was able to chase the hen down and put her in the summer kitchen.

Then back to the bucket o’ chicks. We continued looking, found a few more, and then I moved them into the summer kitchen with mama. I believe Sue ended up finding yet one more.

So, the final tally we believe was 18! Wow!

And, come to find out, it appears the hen was one that had stopped coming back at night after free-ranging during the day, so I thought she had been “crittered”. I thought it had been less time, but I guess she had been gone for at least 21 days. 🙂 And, the Lord graciously granted she sit out there all that time safely.

Sadly though, there was another young hen that had stopped showing up at night, although I saw her in the morning a couple of times. But then, I found a feather pile not far from the chicken pen area, and I believe her nest, so the Lord in His perfect wisdom decided she wouldn’t make it. We always pray they don’t suffer when this happens.

Group 7

Then, a week or so later after the 18 above, I was filling some chicken waterers in our orchard, and thought, I wonder if there are any dead chickens out here amongst things, especially this plum-tree area that has all kinds of branch-growths out of the ground, and then I saw a hen just sitting amongst them. I thought maybe she was injured, and when I circled to the other side….cheep, cheep, and a little chick in front of her!

Not what I expected, so I told Sue, and while I was prepping the summer kitchen for another set of visitors, Sue just started rounding everyone up, and we got them in there.

There were 6 chicks caught and one hatching when we collected everyone. Sadly, one died, and the hatching one didn’t make it. But the other 5 are still going!

Again, we are grateful to the Lord for bringing her and her young through those three weeks!

And now lastly, here’s the video of the two groups:

Again, we are grateful to God for the granting of these provisions, and His mercies toward them and her out there this whole time!

— David