Baby Chickens
My children have been all-about getting chickens for a long time. I've liked the idea of having farm-fresh eggs, but couldn't stand the idea of having more animals. My husband loved the idea of having chickens in our back yard because it would inspire him to do more with our yard, and he loves the gleam of joy that springs into our children's eyes when they talk about loving their chicks. There's also this primitive side of Caleb that keeps urging him to kill and eat them--I guess it's as close to the 'call of the wild' as he can get right now.
Well, the do-or-die day finally arrived when we were told that Tractor Supply had chicks and we had to act fast or they would be gone. Aidan heard his daddy mention that and sprung a plan on us. Neither Caleb nor I actually wanted to pull-the-trigger and get chicks immediately, but we're suckers for the light in our children's eyes and the smiles on their faces. For those of you who know Aidan, he does an impressive amount of accurate research and knows how to present an argument. You couple that with how adorable he is--and it ended up with us getting four baby chickens, a brooder, and supplies to build a coop in our backyard.
Y'all the giggles of our children with those baby chicks was enough to melt our hearts! When we got home from the store, Aidan immediately found the perfect box in our garage to turn into their brooding pen. He had to empty it of all the engine parts that were neatly organized in it, though, before Caleb even realized what he was doing--but, yes, it was the perfect box.
At this point, Alafair and Aidan had become enamored with these baby birds. Caleb, though, was still talking a big-game about raising them to eat. Alafair says, "But, Daddy, how am I going to know which chick to name and love if you're going to eat it?" Right then, I could see that big, beautiful man's toughness and resolve starting to crumble. Y'all I've been down this road before--16 years ago--when we first discovered how loving chickens can be. I saw the writing on the wall. These chicks were going to be pets.
Then, Caleb started telling them, "OK. Chickens produce eggs for about seven years. They will stay alive until they stop producing, and then, right before they are going to naturally die, we'll eat them." I thought, Whatever you have to tell yourself, Caleb... . I'm already planning the place in the yard to create a pet cemetery, because when Caleb goes into the room to check on the 'babies', I hear him chuckle at how cute they are and talk to them in a soothing voice. In seven years, Alafair will be graduating from high school. We shall see if we are eating farm raised chickens for supper, or if we are still feeding them their supper.