About mid morning, a few days ago, while I was eating breakfast on the porch, I heard a tremendous noise. It sounded like a thousand birds all chirping at once. I recognized the sound. Baby chicks. Soon it subsided, but came back periodically during the day. I was curious about where the babies were, the direction of the sound seemed to indicate that they were not moving, which was unusual.
Putting on my Sherlock hat, I started around the yard and discovered 8 baby chicks and a very startled mother hen in our boat.
I'm not sure how she thought they would find food or water, the sides of the boat are about 4 feet high. So, I brought a chicken waterer and a container of chick starter and left it in the boat.
I checked on it a couple of times each day and everything was fine.
Yesterday, in her great wisdom, she decided to take them on a hike. How she got them out of the boat, I'll never know, they must have flown up onto something on the floor, then onto the seats, then onto the sides and just fluttered down from there. I don't know how she thought she would get them back in the boat, which is high on a trailer, there is no way they could have flown up there again, I'm sure they are only a few days old. She didn't seem to put any thought into where, instead they would all spend the night.
Eventually, I saw her by the back door with 7 babies. That would mean that there was one that didn't make it out of the boat. I checked and sure enough, a little brown baby was hiding by the drivers seat. I finally managed to catch him and put him under a silkie because by that time she had disappeared.
Later that evening, I saw her again and slowly walked behind her until I had her in a safe pen.
I forgot about the baby under the silkie, he and the silkie were very content with the arrangements. Tonight, I got him out to play with him on the bed (on a paper towel) while we watched the Kentucky Derby. I had things to do so Arthur took charge and let him sit on his neck. He had just dirtied the paper towel so Arthur thought he was safe. But no, he did something really smelly on Arthur's neck. I'm so glad Arthur is so cool about it.
Baby is now back under the silkie and Arthur is in the shower.
Putting on my Sherlock hat, I started around the yard and discovered 8 baby chicks and a very startled mother hen in our boat.
I'm not sure how she thought they would find food or water, the sides of the boat are about 4 feet high. So, I brought a chicken waterer and a container of chick starter and left it in the boat.
I checked on it a couple of times each day and everything was fine.
Yesterday, in her great wisdom, she decided to take them on a hike. How she got them out of the boat, I'll never know, they must have flown up onto something on the floor, then onto the seats, then onto the sides and just fluttered down from there. I don't know how she thought she would get them back in the boat, which is high on a trailer, there is no way they could have flown up there again, I'm sure they are only a few days old. She didn't seem to put any thought into where, instead they would all spend the night.
Eventually, I saw her by the back door with 7 babies. That would mean that there was one that didn't make it out of the boat. I checked and sure enough, a little brown baby was hiding by the drivers seat. I finally managed to catch him and put him under a silkie because by that time she had disappeared.
Later that evening, I saw her again and slowly walked behind her until I had her in a safe pen.
I forgot about the baby under the silkie, he and the silkie were very content with the arrangements. Tonight, I got him out to play with him on the bed (on a paper towel) while we watched the Kentucky Derby. I had things to do so Arthur took charge and let him sit on his neck. He had just dirtied the paper towel so Arthur thought he was safe. But no, he did something really smelly on Arthur's neck. I'm so glad Arthur is so cool about it.
Baby is now back under the silkie and Arthur is in the shower.
