As many of you know, Tiny was hatched in the big pen to a mama who couldn't juggle eggs still in the nest alongside her responsibilities as a mama of a live baby chick. On evening walk around one night, we found the mama up on her eggs, and the baby chick hiding in the corner of the barn, crying and hollering.
We brought Tiny in the house, where she cuddled with Bailey and even slept in a box in her bed, then the kids left town for a hunt and I was left with a very upset baby. By now we had nicknamed the little one Tiny, and I ended up giving her a stuffed animal to cuddle with. She apparently preferred it to me. Talk about putting me in my place!
I hope to put some photos in here tonight, but I realize just how late I am in sharing the update!
Tiny grew, and began roosting on the side of the trough she was living in. She started getting out of the trough,, wandering the house, exploring and talking to the dogs. Sometimes to us people, too. Shadow would find her, hollering away from various spots in the house, and Shadow would be sure she was lost. She would either coax Tiny back tot he living room or come get me to help her. Shadow was very concerned about Tiny. Goofy animals!
Tiny wanted to cuddle with Vegas and Shadow. Vegas often ran away from her, Shadow was initially pretty stressed out by the notion, since chickens are off limits to her, but they eventually formed a great friendship.
Tiny really needed to move out of the house. Every group we tried her with was either too big for her, or they were very unkind. We tried putting her with the bantam chicks on the back porch who were only a little bigger than her, but both times we tried, they went after her, and he would pull her back inside.
Meanwhile, our friend Toni had left several eggs with one of her hens. Only one of them hatched, and was living in the bathroom, growing up and getting its feathers. The baby at Toni's house was a couple weeks younger than Tiny, but short of purchasing a a friend for Tiny, I didn't really have any options for her, and wasn't interested in having a "house chicken"!
So, I messaged Toni on facebook, asking if she would like to have Tiny as a friend fro her little one, so they could grow up together. A few weeks ago, I got to see my friend Toni, and we sent Tiny along with her, along with her little stuffed bear. Toni later let me know that Tiny has taken the other little one under her wing. They have bonded and are now friends. Yay! Seems like the best possible outcome to me.
Then, about a week later, Wyatt came inside to tell me that the straw I saw knocked down wasn't his fault. I was pretty certain that it had happened when he and his sister got straw to take some of the chickens tot he show in the rain. Apparentlym there was also a her up there, hatching a couple baby chicks...
No comments:
Post a Comment