Feathers Were Everywhere
I haven’t had much to say about my chickens lately because they are good girls and they don’t give me too much trouble. They stay in our yard and peck around at the bugs and the weeds and my Hostas (which we are building a fence around) and keep to themselves. We have had all 12 of them for over a year now and they all get along really well. We get anywhere from 7-12 eggs a day. My husband and I have decided we will have chickens until the day our kids put us in a nursing home because we can only eat fresh eggs. We have become egg connoisseurs and cannot stand the taste of store bought eggs. We went out to eat breakfast one morning while at the Rivah and I made the mistake of ordering a side of scrambled eggs. Never again will I make such a mistake, they obviously did not use eggs that had just been laid and the lack of freshness I detected made me turn my nose up and I was quickly reminded why we never go out for breakfast anymore.
The other day I let my hens out of their coop like I do most of the summer so they can roam around the yard and then I went back inside my house to do some laundry. We have large windows in every room so as I moved from room to room I could see my girls pecking around the yard, chasing the dog and looking for a way to get around the partial fence, my husband has yet to finish, to get to my Hostas. They were clucking away, waddling along, just as fat as ever enjoying their day. The day went on and I got sidetracked with more than just laundry. I let the dogs in for their afternoon nap and went out to check on the girls one more time and they were fine. I finished putting away some dishes and did some more things before I was scheduled to leave to pick up my oldest son’s date for the movies. He’s only 15, but that is another blog for another time.
My son and I opened the front door and walked out on the front porch when we saw what would have been the pre-scene to an actual horror movie scene. You know where they show you the murder weapon with blood on it but no body. This was like that. Feathers everywhere! But no chicken. It looked as if one of my chickens had been completely plucked. I have never seen so many feathers in one place at one time unless on the chicken itself. I have never plucked a chicken, but I really had no clue that they had so many feathers. I could have filled my down comforter with them. I followed the pile of feathers to another pile of feathers which lead to a trail of feathers and then stopped, right by the woods in our backyard. My heart sank into my stomach where a gut wrenching pain throbbed as I frantically ran around the yard yelling, “here chick chick chick, here chick chick chick”, yes they come when I yell this, but I usually have treats, not the look of a woman that just lost one of her most prized possessions. They did not come. They were all together beside their coop looking like they were trying to get in. We counted them, 11. We counted them again, 11. I know one of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but I really thought that if I kept counting them the other one would just show up. Still 11. My son and I called for help and my middle son and my daughter came out to help us. They, like us, were horrified by the initial scene of feathers. I just knew we were going to find her in the woods, mangled and not breathing.
After searching for what seemed like an hour, but in reality only 15 minutes, my oldest son torn between his pet chicken and his date, said “ mom, we gotta go”. Feeling defeated, sad, burdened and unresolved as to what happened to our girl I hung my head and walked towards our car. I began to pray (I know I should have done this first), but I prayed we would find her and that she would be okay. As I walked passed the garage door on my way to my car I noticed the garage door was down. I hopefully thought maybe she’s in there. Right at that moment my 8 year old daughter ran over and picked up a feather off of the ground and said, “mommy look, one of her feathers, I bet she’s in the garage”. I opened the garage door expecting a bald chicken to come running out but instead nothing. All 3 of my kids ran into the garage looking hastily for the missing hen. I remained outside yelling “here chick chick chick”. Then, slowly emerging, from a hidden corner in the garage blocked by an old coffee table I have yet to restore, came Freda, our missing girl. She was alive! She wasn’t bleeding but she did seem much thinner. She finally made her way out of the garage and took off towards the coop to join her sisters. Her rear was balding but no skin was showing and after a thorough examination we concurred that she was okay to join the others. All of us were elated. I really didn’t think I could ever get so attached to a chicken, but I have, we all have. The news had spread quickly thanks to technology and we were happy to respond to texts with good news that she had been found. I still couldn’t believe that she wasn’t bald considering how many feathers she lost. I guess now I have to Google, how many feathers do chickens have.
We still do not know what happened to her. We know we have a Hawk’s nest behind our house and a red fox that lives near by and both of them love chicken. My dogs were in the house when the defeathering took place and my cats stay away from the chickens because my chickens are tough. They have been known to kill snakes and then eat them. So yeah, my girls are tough, but something tougher got a hold of Freda that day. We may never know and really I hope we don’t because I hope whatever it was stays away from my girls. I am thankful that God answered my prayer and we found her and that she way okay.
I truly believe nothing is too big or too small for our God. He created us, He loves us and He wants to be a part of everything in our lives. Some may think it is silly for me to pray for my chickens, but I know that God doesn’t think it’s silly, it blesses Him that I want to involve Him in every aspect of my life, a life He gave me and a life He treasures. I want to encourage you today to seek God in all things and watch Him intercede no matter how big or how small. He loves you!
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