The Exodus
The Exodus
March 14, 2021
(A pic of the the chicks freshly bathed (and on a ladder to dry) & ready to be picked up!)
And so, after 2 & 1/2 months of caring for the chicks, they are off to northern California to be rehomed. Unfortunately, we do not have a new coop to keep them in, (since our present coop only fits the older chickens we have now), so they have been sold off. More details below!
I can say with ease that the experiment went very well. (I also got a good grade on the project, for those who are wondering!) Over the course of two weeks, I played classical music to one brooder, and none to the other brooder. The results were amazing! Here are main 3 results I found:
- The classical chicks behaved WAY more maturely than the regular chicks.
- The classical chicks were an inch bigger than the regular chicks.
- The classical chicks weighed 4 oz. more than the regular chicks.
Basically, classical music does have a serious effect on a baby chick!
Then came the issue of whether we would be keeping the chicks. Our present coop is much too small for another 4 chickens, so we thought about maybe building a new coop. However, we're not a construction family, so we decided to sell the chicks. Somehow, my English teacher from 7th grade found out that we were selling the chicks, and so she offered to buy them, because her daughter was setting up her own farm in northern California, and wanted some chickens there. She also said that she was fine if some ended up as roosters, because she had a friend who would take them. (Hopefully not to kill them!) So my teacher came over on Tuesday, picked up the chicks, and hopefully, the chicks are on their way to a new home!
Don't worry, no tears were shed over the chicks leaving. (I'd knew that we might have had to sell them, and so I purposely did not get attached to them or name them, just in case!) Nevertheless, I still miss them anyway, so here's a little something I wrote for the chicks:
"The sun was brilliantly shining.
It was a picture of a day,
when I looked into your brooders
and watched you all play.
Funny how quickly time passes.
Suddenly with a blink of an eye,
my little chicks are all grown up.
There's no more need for lullabies.
This is the week you leave me.
How I wish you were babies.
Maybe I'd learn to let little things go
like dust and dirt always on the floor.
Oh, how I'd treasure each moment again
if given a second chance,
but life just isn't that simple,
and this is a wish that no one can grant.
We learn before the clock
ticking away the time
to celebrate each new day
in our hearts and in our minds,
instead of looking back and asking ourselves why,
my chicks are all grown up
suddenly with the blink of an eye."
Those chicks were nameless, but I will never forget them. They were in my list of "firsts" and they gave me the experience of a lifetime. I hope they all live happy lives as hens (and possibly roosters) and I wish them all the best on their exodus!
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