Chicken Tragedy

{ 10:15, 2 June 2008 } { 5 comments } { Link }

The other evening we drove 30 miles to the nearest big town to do some shopping. I had just fed the hens and they were all in the hen house and yard, my dog was tied up and off we went. When we got home, we found several dead hens laying on the ground up and down the road next to the fence around the hen yard. It was awful. At first the kids noticed 3 laying right in front of the gate to the yard, and then as they walked down the path they found more, and then more, and then more. I couldn't believe it! It was so horrible. And then my daughter noticed the neighbor's dog who had a chain hanging from it's collar and the chain had gotten wrapped around a post, trapping her in the orchard. Even though we hadn't been there when this all happened, we assumed she had something to do with this.

My kids were crying, I was holding back tears, this whole thing was so beyond my experience and knowledge base, I didn't know what to do. I knew I had to pick them all up and dispose of them but how? I called my husband and he said to put them in the burn barrel. It seemed so horrible but I knew it made sense.

Even though we had been handling all these hens for over a month, the thought of picking them up now just bothered me. And it was so dark outside, I had no idea if there was blood or not. I looked for the shovel, which I did not find since apparently my sons had taken it out to their play area we call "the dirt patch" and they hadn't put it back, which is a "no-no". I had no idea how to pick these hens up. By this time all the kids were in the house and crying and I was wandering around in the dark looking for something to use to gather them.. I finally opted for one of the kids' big plastic sand shovels and a stick. You take my shovel, I have to take yours.

It was awful trying to pick them up. Getting the shovel underneath their limp, lifeless bodies was almost too much for me. I tried to fit two on at a time to lessen my walks to the burn barrel since it was getting darker by the second. As I was trying to lift one it started to make a noise. It wasn't that sweet peeping noise I was used to, this was more anguished, I felt so horrible, what do I do with this one? And then there were two others that were also just barely alive. My heart just sank deeper into my chest than it already was. I couldn't believe I was standing there in the dark faced with this? !!

I have not grown up on a farm. I'm still adjusting. While some people who have lived this life since childhood may have found it easy to kill these hens to just quickly end their suffering since they were going to die anyway, I just couldn't bring myself to even think of doing that. I took them into the hen yard and laid them in these big empty black planters which the previous owner had left here.

I had taken 13 to the barrel, and so that was 16 including the 3 that were just barely alive. The next day, the group of hens seemed quite a bit smaller than 61 so we assume there are more out there that we just haven't found yet. We expected to lose some hens, because everyone told us we would. But losing so many in this way seemed so tragic to us. The three I laid in the planters were dead in the morning, which was no surprise.

At this point, I seriously don't know if I could eat a butchered chicken from our flock. Actually, at this point I don't even think I'm ready to eat any chicken from anywhere. I'm a wimp, I know, but that's how it is. I still don't know what exactly happened or how it happened. And I feel like I can't even leave the property now and leave these hens at all. But from now on I'm making sure they are locked up in the hen house at night and if and when I ever go anywhere again.

Chicken Run

{ 10:54, 31 May 2008 } { 0 comments } { Link }

This is my first time EVER having chickens, well, except for dinner.

We got them through 4H (which is also another first for us) and each child got 25 chicks. Oh, and they put in a rooster with each group of 25, which I didn't know they were going to do.
So, with 3 children participating, that's 78 total.
Needless to say, it's been very interesting.

I think I will continue to blog about my chicken adventures and include these in one section called, "The Chicken Chronicles".

I shot this video for my hubby, who is still not here with us, and so I thought I'd put it up here as well. :)

We just recently lost 1 hen, which was very sad. It was trampled by the other chickens while trying to get to the feed. I didn't realize that this could happen, it was very strange. One of my daughters cried. I thought, oh no, we can never, ever, butcher these hens in the future...it will be too traumatic.

We have all come from the city and used to getting our chicken nice and plastic wrapped at the grocery store. Even though you know where it comes from, it's still a little disturbing when you're faced with the reality. Thankfully, it will be awhile before we'll have to deal with that. Hopefully, we will all be used to the idea by that time.

Boy, growing up and living in the city sure put me in a kind of "everyday unreality". This change of life has been for me enjoyable and yet I'm still trying to adjust. It's good though, I would never go back.

TOMATOSHERE is HERE!

{ 03:38, 4 March 2008 } { 3 comments } { Link }

What is Tomatoshere?

"Tomatosphere is a research project involving more than 9,000 classrooms of Grades 2 to grade 10 students ("Tomatonauts") across Canada, the United States and several other nations. In 2008, students will have the opportunity to grow tomatoes from seeds that have been placed in an environment to simulate the effects of aerocapture, as might occur when entering the atmosphere of Mars, and a control group. In the research project, students will be asked to germinate the seeds, but will not know the origin of the seeds until the results are reported to the web site. At that point, the teacher receives an automatic response indicating which seeds were from each group. This methodology, known as a "blind study" will allow the mystery of the project to be real for the students." ~quote from FAQs on the Tomatoshere website.

Check it out. You can register at the website, Tomatosphere. Homeschoolers are definitely welcome. They have resources for Teachers and Students of different grade (age) levels; study guides, stories, games, experiments, and more. This is my first year doing this but it looks like it will be quite interesting, fun, and educational. :)

Enjoy!

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Be Keepers Of the Word, Of the Way
~"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth."~ 3 John 1:4 ~~
About Me: Welcome! I am a wife of 23 yrs. to a hard working husband, mother to 7 wonderful, amazing children, a home educator, raised in the city, new to living in the country, an adopted child of God desiring to live and walk in His ways. 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Page 1 of 130 † Last Page \| Next Page †	Chicken Tragedy { 10:15, 2 June 2008 } { 5 comments } { Link } The other evening we drove 30 miles to the nearest big town to do some shopping. I had just fed the hens and they were all in the hen house and yard, my dog was tied up and off we went. When we got home, we found several dead hens laying on the ground up and down the road next to the fence around the hen yard. It was awful. At first the kids noticed 3 laying right in front of the gate to the yard, and then as they walked down the path they found more, and then more, and then more. I couldn't believe it! It was so horrible. And then my daughter noticed the neighbor's dog who had a chain hanging from it's collar and the chain had gotten wrapped around a post, trapping her in the orchard. Even though we hadn't been there when this all happened, we assumed she had something to do with this. My kids were crying, I was holding back tears, this whole thing was so beyond my experience and knowledge base, I didn't know what to do. I knew I had to pick them all up and dispose of them but how? I called my husband and he said to put them in the burn barrel. It seemed so horrible but I knew it made sense. Even though we had been handling all these hens for over a month, the thought of picking them up now just bothered me. And it was so dark outside, I had no idea if there was blood or not. I looked for the shovel, which I did not find since apparently my sons had taken it out to their play area we call "the dirt patch" and they hadn't put it back, which is a "no-no". I had no idea how to pick these hens up. By this time all the kids were in the house and crying and I was wandering around in the dark looking for something to use to gather them.. I finally opted for one of the kids' big plastic sand shovels and a stick. You take my shovel, I have to take yours. It was awful trying to pick them up. Getting the shovel underneath their limp, lifeless bodies was almost too much for me. I tried to fit two on at a time to lessen my walks to the burn barrel since it was getting darker by the second. As I was trying to lift one it started to make a noise. It wasn't that sweet peeping noise I was used to, this was more anguished, I felt so horrible, what do I do with this one? And then there were two others that were also just barely alive. My heart just sank deeper into my chest than it already was. I couldn't believe I was standing there in the dark faced with this? !! I have not grown up on a farm. I'm still adjusting. While some people who have lived this life since childhood may have found it easy to kill these hens to just quickly end their suffering since they were going to die anyway, I just couldn't bring myself to even think of doing that. I took them into the hen yard and laid them in these big empty black planters which the previous owner had left here. I had taken 13 to the barrel, and so that was 16 including the 3 that were just barely alive. The next day, the group of hens seemed quite a bit smaller than 61 so we assume there are more out there that we just haven't found yet. We expected to lose some hens, because everyone told us we would. But losing so many in this way seemed so tragic to us. The three I laid in the planters were dead in the morning, which was no surprise. At this point, I seriously don't know if I could eat a butchered chicken from our flock. Actually, at this point I don't even think I'm ready to eat any chicken from anywhere. I'm a wimp, I know, but that's how it is. I still don't know what exactly happened or how it happened. And I feel like I can't even leave the property now and leave these hens at all. But from now on I'm making sure they are locked up in the hen house at night and if and when I ever go anywhere again. Chicken Run { 10:54, 31 May 2008 } { 0 comments } { Link } This is my first time EVER having chickens, well, except for dinner. We got them through 4H (which is also another first for us) and each child got 25 chicks. Oh, and they put in a rooster with each group of 25, which I didn't know they were going to do. So, with 3 children participating, that's 78 total. Needless to say, it's been very interesting. I think I will continue to blog about my chicken adventures and include these in one section called, "The Chicken Chronicles". I shot this video for my hubby, who is still not here with us, and so I thought I'd put it up here as well. :) We just recently lost 1 hen, which was very sad. It was trampled by the other chickens while trying to get to the feed. I didn't realize that this could happen, it was very strange. One of my daughters cried. I thought, oh no, we can never, ever, butcher these hens in the future...it will be too traumatic. We have all come from the city and used to getting our chicken nice and plastic wrapped at the grocery store. Even though you know where it comes from, it's still a little disturbing when you're faced with the reality. Thankfully, it will be awhile before we'll have to deal with that. Hopefully, we will all be used to the idea by that time. Boy, growing up and living in the city sure put me in a kind of "everyday unreality". This change of life has been for me enjoyable and yet I'm still trying to adjust. It's good though, I would never go back. TOMATOSHERE is HERE! { 03:38, 4 March 2008 } { 3 comments } { Link } What is Tomatoshere? "Tomatosphere is a research project involving more than 9,000 classrooms of Grades 2 to grade 10 students ("Tomatonauts") across Canada, the United States and several other nations. In 2008, students will have the opportunity to grow tomatoes from seeds that have been placed in an environment to simulate the effects of aerocapture, as might occur when entering the atmosphere of Mars, and a control group. In the research project, students will be asked to germinate the seeds, but will not know the origin of the seeds until the results are reported to the web site. At that point, the teacher receives an automatic response indicating which seeds were from each group. This methodology, known as a "blind study" will allow the mystery of the project to be real for the students." ~quote from FAQs on the Tomatoshere website. Check it out. You can register at the website, Tomatosphere. Homeschoolers are definitely welcome. They have resources for Teachers and Students of different grade (age) levels; study guides, stories, games, experiments, and more. This is my first year doing this but it looks like it will be quite interesting, fun, and educational. :) Enjoy! { Last Page } { Page 1 of 20 } { Next Page }	Recent Posts Now That's Service Under Construction Who doesn't have a headache today? 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Be Keepers

Of the Word, Of the Way

~"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth."~ 3 John 1:4 ~~

Chicken Tragedy

Chicken Run

TOMATOSHERE is HERE!