OfWolvesAndHen
Songster
- Apr 15, 2021
- 99
- 208
- 106
Some backstory: I hatched some chicks for my aunt's coop last year, and sadly lost them to a fox not long after. This is a risk I accepted going into hatching; what discouraged me was being berated by a vast number of other hobbyists for "letting" them be taken. If I wasn't in another state, perhaps I could have helped, but an emergency in one of my aunt's patients forced her to stay at work late. The coop is locked up every night, but nobody was around to do it this time. Her husband and kids were travelling. Her only neighbors were travelling. She couldn't sacrifice her patient's life for those of the chickens, and there was truly nothing that could be done. The fox dug under the fence and wiped out all but 2 or 3 of the chickens in the flock, including the 3 I raised. Despite the emergent and unpreventable circumstances, I was condemned as a terrible chicken keeper, blamed for the death of these chickens that I loved, told I have no business raising chickens ever again. My life was threatened over the size of my aunt's fencing (which they believed to be far smaller than it was)!
This all left a majorly sour taste in my mouth, and I decided I didn't want to involve myself with a hobby in which I was treated so poorly in an already difficult situation, by people who were falsely assuming things I had already explained to them. I feared that, if I ever needed to ask for help with the process, I would be treated just as badly for being imperfect. To a degree, I do still kind of fear this, as those who believed I had made a mistake were more fussed with insulting me than offering advice.
Recently, I decided my desire to hatch more chicks and see them grow into healthy layers is greater than my fear of being slammed for mistakes. I miss all the antics they pull, the cuddles, watching them go from little cottonballs with beaks to elegant, feathered birds. I miss seeing the eggs develop as they incubate and the excitement of a pipped egg. My aunt wants more layers, and the kids want chickens they can hold (the ones they have currently were not socialized). An automatic door was installed to keep the flock safe from that point forward. So I decided that once the weather warms up, I'm going to hatch some Faverolles to join her flock and I couldn't be more excited! I'm really hoping for a smooth hatch and that more eggs are viable this time than last.
I can't wait to share photos of the babies with you all when they hatch!
This all left a majorly sour taste in my mouth, and I decided I didn't want to involve myself with a hobby in which I was treated so poorly in an already difficult situation, by people who were falsely assuming things I had already explained to them. I feared that, if I ever needed to ask for help with the process, I would be treated just as badly for being imperfect. To a degree, I do still kind of fear this, as those who believed I had made a mistake were more fussed with insulting me than offering advice.
Recently, I decided my desire to hatch more chicks and see them grow into healthy layers is greater than my fear of being slammed for mistakes. I miss all the antics they pull, the cuddles, watching them go from little cottonballs with beaks to elegant, feathered birds. I miss seeing the eggs develop as they incubate and the excitement of a pipped egg. My aunt wants more layers, and the kids want chickens they can hold (the ones they have currently were not socialized). An automatic door was installed to keep the flock safe from that point forward. So I decided that once the weather warms up, I'm going to hatch some Faverolles to join her flock and I couldn't be more excited! I'm really hoping for a smooth hatch and that more eggs are viable this time than last.
I can't wait to share photos of the babies with you all when they hatch!
