Friday, June 13, 2008

ON NEW CHALLENGES

Dear Spike:

For the past two weeks, our three chickens, Bubba, Wanda and The Colonel, have been living in a 30-gallon plastic tub in the corner of our dining room. But in the past few days it's become clear that arrangement won't last for long.

Bubba and Wanda have tripled in size since we got them. The Colonel remains the smallest girl of the bunch, but she's also grown considerably. All of them have started to flap their wings about — and Bubba managed to make the leap to the lip of the tub the other day, perching on the side until your mother grabbed her and put her back in the bottom of the tub.

So today you and your mother packed the girls in a cardboard box and walked them out to the coop in the backyard. And that's where I found them, pecking away at the dirt, when I returned home from work today.

As much as I've tried to discourage your mom from treating the girls as pets — "they're working animals," I tell her — I'm not innocent of a little lovidy-dovidy nonsense. Since their arrival I've visited with the girls at least once a day, picking them up one by one to rub their little heads, and bending down to let you do the same. I want them to be friendly to me, you and your mom – and I've heard that handling chicks from a young age helps discourage them from pecking later on in life.

I've never raised livestock before, so I don't know where the lines are supposed to be drawn.

Is it OK to name your animals, so long as you don't plan on eating them? I suppose that's fine.

How about if you're going to steal their eggs? Is it OK to try to make friends?

None of this keeps me up at night, but I find it an interesting experience. I'm quite out of my comfort zone in this little experiment. And I think that's a good thing for me.

And for you. Life's more fun — and fascinating — when you make a habit of taking on new challenges.

Love,
dad

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While it is not necessarily in the nature of livestock (working or not) to befriend humans, they will develop a bonding with you. (It is usually about food. ) If you treat them well and give them a good and safe home, they will share their eggs with you. Hint- I wait until they are off the nesting box to take eggs.

MeesheMama said...

Have I mentioned that I love that you have chickens?

Anonymous said...

I think it's awesome that one of your hens is named "the Colonel." We have rooster at our barn that- I know, I know...- crossed the highway from the Mexican rodeo to take up residence in our upper barn. We named him the Colonel, too :c)