Sunday, October 02, 2011

Chickens and Pumpkins and Pictures...Oh My!!

Wow, what a weekend!

I've literally been a mother hen since Friday.  Literally.  Friday, I brought home six baby chicks.  They were the product of a science unit of the third grade students I work with.  The kids were learning the life cycle of an egg - and then got to see the miracle of birth as almost 20 eggs hatched.  The majority of the chicks were your regular, run of the mill, baby chickens.  The ones I brought home, however, are different.  Here's a couple of pics of my new (temporary) babies...




There are three black chicks with yellow breasts, two brown chicks that have no feathers on their necks or very many on their breasts, and one gray chick that has no feathers on its neck or breast. They are cute and ugly all at the same time.  I'm keeping them until Monday, when my mom is going to come pick them up.  My brother is going to take them and raise them on his chicken farm.

One of the bald necks was really sickly when we got home Friday.  She couldn't stand up, was very weak, and was getting pounded by the other chicks.  I separated her from the others, and hoped that by doing that she'd be able to get a little better.  I woke up yesterday morning to find her on the verge of death.

Her near death experience came at my hand, however, because I was the dummy that used a light bulb that put off no heat to keep her warm.  I immediately picked her up and held her in my hands for about 30 minutes while Hubby tracked down a regular light bulb.  I really thought I was going to lose her.  I tried feeding her some water, but she was so weak she just couldn't swallow it.

I left her in her box with the new light bulb - making sure it put off heat - and went out yesterday just knowing I'd come home to find her dead.

Being that Butter is home for the weekend, my very close friend - who the kids call Grammy - wanted to spend some time with him.  We all met her for breakfast yesterday morning, and then spent the day in a Halloween palooza of activities.

First it was to the pumpkin patch where the kids picked out 23 pumpkins of various shapes and sizes.  Then it was back to Grammy's house so that we could paint the pumpkins....



Jelly and Butter are having a great time - and don't let Peanut's "I'm too cool for this" expression deceive you, she was having a blast too.

We ended up hanging out until 6:00, and then it was a quick run to Wal-Mart...and we finally made it home around 7:30. 

So, what was my baby chick like when I got home?  She was alive!! In fact, she was standing up - something she hadn't done since I brought her home.  I should note here that I have no idea the sex of the chicks - but I'm going out on a limb and referring to her as a "she"...my bad if I'm wrong.  She looked so good, in fact, that I put her back with the other chicks.  Now, it's hard to even tell which one she is - except that she's still pretty wobbly on her feet.  She's eating and drinking well - so I've got good hopes that she's going to make it.

All in all, it's been a great weekend.  I managed to walk a mile yesterday - and I'm counting the 15 minutes that I continuously lifted 5-9lbs pumpkins up and down as strength training.  It may be frowned upon, but it's the closest I've got to any weight work in a long time....and my arms are hurting today, so I feel like I have the right to count it as exercise.

I'm planning a walk/jog later this afternoon... but until then?  I'm going to catch up on some blogs, I'm going to catch up on some Pinterest, and I'm going to continue playing Mother Hen.

Everyone enjoy your Sunday!!

Till next time. ;)

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1 comment:

  1. Cute, looks like a good weekend. I love fall! It's the best season ever.

    ReplyDelete

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