Loving Chicks

I showed Jon the photo of Kitty and Anne that I took this morning.  “Do you think I romanticize them?”  I was thinking about the reaction I got to a photo I posted on Instagram and facebook. 

Jon had no doubt, “You love those chicks” he said.

I really hadn’t seen it that way, but when I took a good look at the picture of them frolicking in the flowers, I thought he was on to something.

Then I thought about the trouble I’m having putting them in the big coop with the hens.  I keep delaying it the same way I delayed putting them outside when they got too big for the house.

Last night when I woke up at 2:30 am, I knew it was the perfect time to go outside and move the chicks in with the hens while they were all sleeping.  I’d get up early the same morning and open the door to the coop, I told Jon so many times already.

My fear, which I’m sure is more about me than the chicks, is that the hens will wake up and start pecking at the chicks who will be locked inside the coop with no escape.

We discussed putting a chickenwire barrier between them till they get used to each other. But there’s no way to do that and still allow all four chickens access to the door. And the chicks need to hop out of the door to know how to hop back in at the end of the day.

This morning when I opened Kitty and Anne’s create reality hit me.  They’re really big almost as big as the hens.  Although the chicks still run from White Hen and Brown Hen when they chase them in the yard, I have a feeling they can take care of themselves.

And eventually, they’ll have to.

So maybe tonight is the night.  When I wake up to go to the bathroom, I’ll move the chicks in with the hens.

Maybe.