Are You My Mother? Archives - View from the Front Porch

6 09, 2019

Are You My Mother?

By judythemorgan|2019-08-29T10:39:59-05:00September 6th, 2019|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Texas is hot in August. How hot you ask? It is so hot that eggs can hatch without a chicken sitting on them.

I know this because we picked up an orphan chick from a person who had several chicks hatch without a hen. She gave four away and then there was a late bloomer. We still had our chicks separated so we thought adding to them would be fine.

We brought the little black chick home and put it in with the others that night.

We have discovered that when you move chickens at night they wake up and think they have always been in their new home. (At least that is what we assume. They transition very well.)

The next morning, I moved the chicks outside in their wire cage to enjoy some grass. When I checked before I left for school, the little black chick had managed to get through the wire and was wandering around in the big world alone. This was not a good idea.

I put the chick back in a cardboard box in the house and went to work. The little black chick lived in the box until it was too big to get out of the wire cage. It was still considerably smaller than the other chicks and they began to pick on it.

I moved it back inside into a larger tub. It was safe but very lonely. It cheeped all the time. Beekeeper Brian put the stuffed cat in the tub with it. That made it happy. Now it snuggles up with the stuffed cat every night. I guess it thinks that is its mother.

28 12, 2014

You’re Not My Chicken! You’re A Snort.

By judythemorgan|2014-12-28T06:00:02-06:00December 28th, 2014|Sunday Sampler|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I was in my bedroom getting ready for work when I heard a chicken. On Miller Farm, this is normal.

The clucking was coming from right outside my window. This is not normal.

I put shoes on and went outside to see which one of our silly birds had spent the night outside the coop. As I rounded the corner of the house, I spied the escapee – except there was one problem.

This was not my chicken.

My first thought was from the book Are You My Mother?

In the story, the little bird is searching for its mother when it comes upon a steam shovel. It quickly realized that this was not its mother.

I named the stray bird “Snort.”

Now you may wonder how I distinguish my chickens from others. It isn’t always easy but this bird was a barred rock, and we have none of that variety at the moment.

Being a Chicken Wrangler, I could not leave her out in the open so I scooped her up and carried her to our coop. She was very calm about the whole process, until I let out all our chickens.

You see, chickens are not particularly kind to strange birds. They chased the poor stray around the yard until she flew up to the fence.

I tried to catch her again to clip her wings so she wouldn’t meet Bella (the chicken-killing dachshund). Since I was unsuccessful, I left the dogs inside while I went to work.

When I got home, the first thing I did was check the backyard. Sticking out from a bush against the fence was a chicken head.

The stray bird had flown the coop again. She seemed to want to go back inside the fence so I caught her, clipped her wings and put her back with the others.

Meanwhile I have asked my friend with chickens if she is missing a barred rock. She is checking her chickens.

I may have to post a “Found Chicken” sign at the corner. Someone may be missing their chicken.