- Jun 28, 2011
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We had an old septic tank in our backyard. It's basically a huge hole in the ground, under a concrete slab with a pipe coming out the side, I assume it's for ventilation. This was in turn connected to an old-fashioned "long drop" type toilet, aka an outside privy.
Two of my chicks used to crawl into the ventilation pipe all the time to catch bugs and one day they went too far... After going crazy looking for them we discovered they were inside the septic tank and the only way in is... Not through the concrete slab! So what do you do? Being a good chicken mom I got a flashlight, handful of chick food and leaned halfway into the toilet with the food trying to get them.
Keep in mind there were up to 15 people using that toilet daily for the past 3 years and it doesn't flush.
Of course the babies had an absolute blast down there and did NOT want to come out! It took me some time to get them to come to the food, so I can grab them.
My husband was hysterical afterwards, kicking himself for not filming the rescue. I only saw the funny side much much later. I was too busy stressing and trying not to breathe. I swear, chickens have no sense of smell (lucky things). I guess on hindsight, me halfway down the toilet going "Come HERE you little sh**!" in the sweetest tone of voice I could manage at the time was quite a sight.
Needless to say the hole got blocked and the chicks got renamed. From that day on they were known as Nr1 and Nr2.
Two of my chicks used to crawl into the ventilation pipe all the time to catch bugs and one day they went too far... After going crazy looking for them we discovered they were inside the septic tank and the only way in is... Not through the concrete slab! So what do you do? Being a good chicken mom I got a flashlight, handful of chick food and leaned halfway into the toilet with the food trying to get them.
Keep in mind there were up to 15 people using that toilet daily for the past 3 years and it doesn't flush. Of course the babies had an absolute blast down there and did NOT want to come out! It took me some time to get them to come to the food, so I can grab them.
My husband was hysterical afterwards, kicking himself for not filming the rescue. I only saw the funny side much much later. I was too busy stressing and trying not to breathe. I swear, chickens have no sense of smell (lucky things). I guess on hindsight, me halfway down the toilet going "Come HERE you little sh**!" in the sweetest tone of voice I could manage at the time was quite a sight.
Needless to say the hole got blocked and the chicks got renamed. From that day on they were known as Nr1 and Nr2.
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