We ordered 100 chicks to raise for production this year. The process of raising chicks begins with a phase called brooding. We place the chicks in a brooding box that is kept at a consistent temperature while they grow feathers and adapt to the changing temperatures of the outside world.
As they grew this year, they quickly were getting too crowded in the brooding box. Because of the good warm weather we have been experiencing, we opened the box to let them run around in the natural sunlight. We felt confident they would be safe from the various predators in the area because of a mesh electric fence surrounding the area. But after a couple of days, the number of chicks seemed less. After counting, we discovered we were down to only 47 chickens. What happened to the other 53 chicks?
Upon reflection, I remember seeing a raven flying by the house with a large fuzzy white ball in it’s mouth. At the time, I only mused how unusual it was to see ravens caring that large of an object. Now I realized that the ravens had flown in to the chicken area and were plucking them up and caring them away.
And so that is the life of raising animals. As hard as we try, there are so many elements that are out of our control. From the predators to the weather, you just have to be flexible. We learn, adapt and hope that next time it will be better.
[fbshare type=”button”] [fblike style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”]
[pinterest count=”horizontal”]