 |
| This isn't normal for your chickens!! This will cause them to not be able to eat properly which could lead to their DEATH. Clip their beaks if they, for some reason, look like this!!! |
My sweet friend Nicole told us that she was getting us chickens as a wedding gift! I didn't believe her, but when we got back to school, she set up a time to go to her aunt's house to pick them up! Oh my gosh I was so happy. I told Jake I probably wouldn't be able to sleep that night!
On Friday, we went to Tractor Supply and picked up all the things we'd need for them. Feed, something to put the feed in, something to put their water in, cracked corn (snacks!), and anything else I came across that they might possibly need (unfortunately we didn't come across chicken sweaters).
Saturday we went and picked them up, brought them back home in a box, and that's when I started to love on them. . . duh. They seemed to enjoy their new (and much bigger) coop and run. Even though it was pretty cold during the day, they were just hanging out outside the coop. Luckily the figured out where to roost that night, even if they didn't realize that they were pooping in their nesting boxes. Gross.
I noticed one of my chickens had this weird thing going on with her beak. It looked like there was something in her beak, but when I picked her up, there wasn't anything... just a crazy elongated beak. It looked like she had an under bite! I told Jake about it and his first thought was that she had something in her mouth, but we quickly figured out that wasn't it. So after researching a little bit about what we could do, it seemed like a lot of people clip their birds' beaks. Easy enough. I'd have Jake do it! Hahaha.
I held her while Jake clipped the bottom half with nail clippers. It didn't seem like it hurt her much, but she still didn't like it. Jake had to hold her neck pretty tightly to keep her still and when he gave her a little break, I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!!! It was the worst 8 seconds of my life (drama queen). She had laid her head down on my arm and closed her eyes and wasn't moving. I handed her to Jake... I wasn't about to have my chicken die in my arms!!! She ended up opening her eyes and being fine, she just needed a second to recouperate.
When I told Jake that I thought he had killed her today, he told me he thought he had too!!! Oh my gosh. He said, "I seriously thought I had killed my wife's CHILD." (He gets me). Luckily she's alive and kickin' it, eating mash and snuggling her sister hens. They're not laying yet, but I'm determined to love them enough that they'll start up again, even if it is the dead of winter. . .
No comments