I got the opportunity at the weekend to "rescue" some chickens from an egg factory that were due to be slaughtered. Hubby and I had to quickly build a coop for them on Sat/Sun morning and on Sunday afternoon DH went to get them while I was at work. I instructed him to take as many as he could fit in the car. He got 44.
I peeked in when I got back from work last night but couldn't really see much as it was dark. When I went out to see them this morning I was stunned. They were in terrible condition. I could have cried. I knew they were going to need a lot of extra TLC and attention. They were extremely skittish and actually screamed when I turned a light on. I wondered to myself if I had bitten off more than I could chew going from 9 chickens to 53 overnight, had I done the right thing?
Well, I went to put them to bed a couple of hours ago. I threw some scratch down for them but it took them a while to figure out what it was and what they should do with it. I sat down on the floor of the coop and watched them as they figured it out. Then, very slowly, one started towards me. She came right up to my foot and pecked it gently then looked at me. Then she came round to my other side and pecked at my other foot. Looked at me again. Then she proceeded to climb onto my foot, lean against my leg and fall asleep. I sat there with tears rolling down my face, scared to move in case I frightened her away. After a few minutes she opened her eyes again and stayed on my foot while she let me scratch under her chin, all the while keeping eye contact with me. I'm sure she was saying "thank you".
That's when I knew.... I'd done the right thing.
I peeked in when I got back from work last night but couldn't really see much as it was dark. When I went out to see them this morning I was stunned. They were in terrible condition. I could have cried. I knew they were going to need a lot of extra TLC and attention. They were extremely skittish and actually screamed when I turned a light on. I wondered to myself if I had bitten off more than I could chew going from 9 chickens to 53 overnight, had I done the right thing?
Well, I went to put them to bed a couple of hours ago. I threw some scratch down for them but it took them a while to figure out what it was and what they should do with it. I sat down on the floor of the coop and watched them as they figured it out. Then, very slowly, one started towards me. She came right up to my foot and pecked it gently then looked at me. Then she came round to my other side and pecked at my other foot. Looked at me again. Then she proceeded to climb onto my foot, lean against my leg and fall asleep. I sat there with tears rolling down my face, scared to move in case I frightened her away. After a few minutes she opened her eyes again and stayed on my foot while she let me scratch under her chin, all the while keeping eye contact with me. I'm sure she was saying "thank you".
That's when I knew.... I'd done the right thing.
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