Spring Chicks

Every year, we usually add a few hens to our laying flock, just to keep productive young hens coming up as older hens slow down their laying. This winter, we lost about 6 hens and one much-loved rooster to a combination of severe winter weather and particularly desperate predators, so we decided to add a few more than normal.

Myles surprised me this year when he insisted on settling the chicks in the brooder himself. He’s helped me with chicks the past couple years, but I didn’t anticipate how much he would remember, or how confident he would be lifting them out of the box, dipping their beaks in the water, and setting them gently into the brooder.

The concept that my almost-5-year-old can handle day old baby chicks like it’s the most normal task in the world pretty much floored me. It also made me very proud.