- Jan 5, 2009
- 4
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Hello...I am Nancy, and wanted to introduce myself. My youngest son asked for baby chicks for Christmas 2007. We told him two (2) only! He wanted a Silkie and we ordered, but they weren't in when we went to Pratt's in Glendale. He found another little chick that was 2 days old and I bought her, but unfortunately she had been sick and didn't survive the weekend. We went again to Pratt's the first week of December and he picked out to little Polish Crowns. We kept them inside and immediately began to fall in love with them and see their personalities begin to form. Unfortunately, we had let them out one Saturday and a neighbor cat got the more assertive baby chick...her name if Gretal. We rescued her and she was quite injured. Back to Pratt's where I bought antibiotics, and 2 new little Silkies. I began to administered the medicine in their water and let my son, Jordan, know that it was hit or miss. In the meantime, Penny (Henny Penny...yes, Jordan chose nursery rhyme names) became the aggressor and was upset that Gretal was out of commission. I was hesitant to get the two new little silkies, but they kept Gretal warm. Little by little Gretal continued to improve...she was a little fighter. She couldn't stand up or walk, but would drag herself around. When they were let outside she would hobble, then just stop and rest, but kept improving. Anyway, she has healed and soon we needed to think about a bigger cage and a coop. I drew up a plan, we got the supplies, and we all helped and built a cool coop for our 4 chickens. They stayed inside for 4 months before venturing outside permanently to their new home. Their names are Gretal (Hansel & Gretal), Penny (Henny Penny), Goldie (Goldilocks) and Bo (Little Bo Peep). It turned out that Bo is a rooster and we learned so much from him. It was wonderful to watch him try to protect them and always give up his food for his girls. They love pizza, chicken, watermellon, and bologna...lol! The girls kept laying eggs, but were too young to realize what to do, but in June they got the jist of it; however, they insisted on laying their eggs in the same box and it was quite comical to watch all 3 hens trying to lay on them at the same time. As it was, one Polish and the Silkie (Gretal and Goldie) won out and would lay on them together. On my oldest son's 21st birthday celebration, we had all these kids/young adults coming into the coop and sitting with me as we waited for eggs to hatch. Anyway...a few chicks didn't make it and we cried, but 4 did. We had to get rid our roosters (we have visiting rights) but still have 6 hens. The 3 youngest are now laying eggs and are quite vocal and like to come in the house to lay them...I tease that the 1st one in gets the suite (a 2 room hutch) and the last one in gets a regular room (an old cage we use to keep a pet rat in). They love it...they love us...and we love them. They are great pets...you would never have been able to convince me over a year ago that I'd feel this way, but I do. Thanks for a great group.
