Life in Mystery and Abundance

During my travels when I tell people that I live on a farm and that I have chickens they always ask – “Do you eat them?” and I always reply – “Eat them? I will bury those birds!” Sadly, recently we had to do just that, bury one of our chickens who died.

One of our Silver-Laced Wyandottes (and we think it may have been Rachel) just mysteriously up and died on us. I was traveling for business at the time and my husband found her lying quite dead in one of their favorite dust bathing spots. Chickens love to take dust baths; it’s like their “Spa Day”. I took some video of them dust bathing recently. There was no sign of trauma or attack of any kind nor did she appear to be injured. It looked like she had just passed away in her sleep while lying in the sun after dust bathing. According to many folks we have talked to, this happens sometimes. Sometimes chickens just die on you…one of the mysteries of life. Of course my husband called me to let me know and I told him – “Well, you have to bury her.” So now we are one less beautiful lady making us 7 hens and of course our rooster, Joe.

But life goes on in abundance at the farm… Shortly after our loss, we realized that one of our Black Australorps has gotten “broody” meaning her internal clock is telling her it’s time to have some babies! She started sitting on some eggs and refused to move. She displayed very good sense by picking a great, private spot in the hen house – a long crate filled with straw and closed off on 3 sides. So we haven’t had to move her yet. While we are not sure how many eggs she started sitting on (we think at least 2 or 3) we placed 6 more underneath her (this is what you do to strengthen your odds of getting some viable chicks). That’s about all she can cover with her body which is spread out fat like a pancake over top of her eggs (the Black Australorps are our smallest hens). The other ladies and Joe are leaving her well alone – which is good. Eventually, we will need to move her to higher, more enclosed grounds to keep any eventual chicks safe. So we just may have some new chicks for Easter! :)

As I’m sure is evident from the length of time between my posts, I’ve been quite busy between calls and conferences (had a speaking engagement in AZ which was absolutely beautiful this time of year). While I enjoy my work and even the travel (for the most part ;), when you are busy it’s easy to start to feel out of touch with the natural rhythms of life and to lose sight of life’s simple yet profound moments. That’s the gift that the farm gives back to me when I come back to it to find that life is moving on in abundance whether I’m there to witness it or not (a shocking realization for a control freak – apparently I don’t cause the sun to rise every morning – who knew?).

Here's a picture of our "broody girl"...

Guss and Finn are "brooding" too over the fact that we've been keeping them out of the back pasture where the hen house is...