A Baby Chicken Story

This is the ugliest picture of me ever! I am one ugly chick!

My friend Janea had been heating up chicken eggs and then raising the babies. They had them under a heat lamp and had to turn them 3 times a day. To keep things straight, they placed an X and an O on each side. After the allotted days they hatched. Out of 20 eggs, 18 chicks survived and came out.

Janea has 4 kids, 2 girls in elementary school, 1 preschooler and 1 toddler. It was very fun for the kids to take part in this process. The older girls would have little baby chicken crawl on them at night before they go to bed, or in the morning they would hold one during scripture reading. What fun childhood memories right?
The runt of the eggs who is black was bull legged and was not walking, was not getting food and water and the other chicks were picking on it. Janea looked it up on line and if it didn't get fixed the chick would die, so she made a little stint with a band aid, wrapping the 2 legs closer together. At first it couldn't walk like that, but then it did. Still it needed to eat and drink in a different box, but eating is such a social thing for these guys, that it didn't want to. They placed at least one chick in there with it.

We'll I went to go see them and help Janea take them to the girls classroom to share with the other kids in tow. Dallin kept telling everyone how 2 chicks died. Everyone in the hall could hear the little peeps and wanted a peak in side the box. They are very cute and fluffy.

I noticed that one wasn't doing to well. It was breathing funny, kept taking in air like it couldn't get any. I took it out of the box and held it, and asked around for water. One little girl brought me a pan with an inch and a half of water. I had to remind her they are not ducks, but chicken's and don't swim. We found a little baby jar, filled that up and I stuck his beak in there over and over again to get it some water. We were afraid that it was due to being away from the lamp and perhaps water. On of the students brought me their water bottle lid- very clever I thought- to help it drink. The chick got better and I saved the day! It may have died if I had not been there! It was quite the fiasco with the kids, the box and the sick chick.
When everyone was home, we noticed another one acting like the first and then more. We started to separate them in case what ever they had was contagious. Janea and I were in the kitchen taking when Sadie yelled that one of the chickens was dead. No, it was just sleeping, answered Janea. I thought it for sure was the sick one I had at school, but it was not and it was dead! Sadie held it to her cheek, while it's little neck and head flopped down. Then she got creative and tried to make it's little feet touch it's beak. Janea tried to get her to put it in a paper bag, so they could burry it latter, but no, she loved that dead little chick.

Janea was raising these chicks for her sister Quinae, who was going to have chickens and a goats on her property. Quinae is also a nurse, so we called her. No answer from her! 20 eggs, 17 chicks left. More were coming up sick and we didn't know what to do. Quinae comes over and they think maybe it ate some of the little wood chips that they walk on. Quinae, being a nurse, decides to do a discect the dead chick. They get cardboard and nurse quinae does it. A few small pieces were found in the neck, but not enough to make it choke and die. The girls are loving this! They are holding the heart in their hands, they want to see what the brain looks like. Janea starts to video tape the whole thing. It's so funny! Here's these girls sad to loose a cute fluffy animal and minutes latter they are cutting it up and looking at it's insides! I missed all that part, but called the next day to find out what was happening.

One got really sick and Janea thought for sure they would have a dead chick in the morning- but it was still alive and green! Janea couldn't believe it, she felt so bad. What were her and Keith going to do? Keith did not want to kill it! He had his work close on and didn't want chicken guts on his shirt. He did not like killing the mouse when they were first married. Janea decides to put it in a plastic bag to suffocate it. She does so and it starts reviving! Holy Crap, now what! She calls Quinae and fills her in. Janea bring her ALL of the chicks. She can't do this anymore! Keith wasn't excited at all about it in the first place, the kids loved it, but it was a lot of work.

At Quinae's, she is trying to figure out what she can kill this chicken with. She yells at her boys to stay inside- she does not want them to see her kill this creature. Quinae finds something, prays over the little chick and then stabs in over and over again really fast to help it go back to it's creator. She thinks the little boys have seen nothing.

Latter that day, the 2 boys are at Janea's and the youngest one says "Mommy, hurt the chicken". The older one says "she cut it's edges off." You can't hide anything from kids. Sooner or latter they will find out!

Nurse Quinae gave them antibiotic's and they are all doing well on their little farm and some will be soon laying eggs.