A Farewell to Wings

Warring factions, cold beady eyes, narrowing pupils, showy displays of aggressive territorialism, inability to see that what should bring them together is far greater than that which divides them: No, I'm not talking about last Thanksgiving, or even next Thanksgiving. I am talking about something I am calling BirdMerge.

That is the the name for the bringing together of our two groups of pullets, formerly the new chicks we bought, and then the other new chicks we bought a month later. By the way, "pullet" is the official term for those chicks you bought four or five months ago, who nobody wants to see pictures of anymore.

The babies are all growed up now and need to go live with the adult hens. Only thing is, chickens aren't the most welcoming to newcomers. A new bird introduced into an existing flock is definitely going to be challenged, will have to be assertive in order to get any food, and faces risk of being attacked to death by the other hens. We have our tricks for that get-to-know you phase, but this time around, we have an additional peace treaty to eggotiate. We need to get our two sets of three pullets to think of themselves as one set of six pullets before they all move in together with the older girls.

Only, again with the hostility toward newcomers. The first coming together quickly became a coop d' etat. There is a month age difference between the two sets of birds, and the older, bigger, black and white ones knew it. When we checked the birds after their initial fighting died down, all of the younger golden pullets were huddled in the corner, their heads sticking through the bars of their cage, out of pecking reach.

So, the two separate groups went back into two separate cages, but those cages were scooted right up against each other in the hoop house. For a month, they lived side by side, face to face, with only an inch of space and some lines obscuring their view of each other.

Time passed, as it does, and that became normal to their little chicken brains, to look into each other's eyes, hear each other's breath, view one another through lines that almost seemed not to be there at times. The sameness of their experience came to dominate their other thoughts. Together, they wondered when those distracted primates would return to refresh their water? Or, what was that barking sound? Isn't this hoop house too warm today? Someone should come and open the door. Oh, here's that cat who can crawl under the door again. Say, those radish leaves are getting so big, I think I can reach one through the cage!

Chaucer once said, "Familiarity breeds contempt," but chickens don't read, so they don't know that. To them, familiarity breeds, "I will not try to end you." A month of adjacent captivity made them nice and familiar, so the stage was set. For BirdMerge, take two.

Factors I've noticed that make a difference when trying to broker a peace treaty:

Abundance: Trying to convince opposing parties to be peaceful and generous cannot happen in a deprivation situation. There needs to be plenty. Plenty of space, plenty of water, plenty of food, in this case.

Neutral Ground: Neither side wants to feel like it gave up its space to the other, even if they end up actually doing that. This cage set up is open, and includes a neutral space that neither set of birds considers its territory. They both ended up in each other's cages eventually, but not one group exclusively taking over the other's space.

Conflict Processing Space: Instincts matter here. When new flockmates meet each other for the first time, they're probably going to have to fight it out a bit. Usually it's mostly fluffed-up feathers, hopping, wing-beating, and a minimum of pecking. Concerns would be excessive pecking and denying the newbies access to food and water. 

To a degree, it has to play itself out, so that the more vulnerable one can prove itself. Those more vulnerable ones will stand a better chance if they are old enough, have numbers on their side, and are given enough overhead space to show how high they can hop.

Last Saturday saw the great merging. I put their cages on a seriously neglected part of our backyard, facing each other, doors open, with pieces of an old baby crib creating a connecting tunnel.

Slowly, each set of birds left their respective residences and ventured into that unknown patch of jungle between them.

Once again, they saw each other, faces only slightly obscured by lines; but these lines could be trampled and eaten.

This was normal, only better! The two trios grazed and ambled into each other's spaces (mostly) peacefully, and have been a content sextet ever since.

Happily Feather After. The End.

Tails and Tidings: The Ovoid of Life

 It is the end of winter. The migrating birds are migrating, the crocuseses are crocusing,  and the air is filled with the sound of squawking hens, and the neighbor, pounding on the back door, shouting, "Your dog got out and she's killing your chickens!"?

 Yep. I'm sad to write, last week started with our big, muddy, puppy giddily galloping around the yard, snapping our hens' necks with a playful snatch n' shake technique we dog owners recognize from any game of tug-o-war. The whole event was shocking, and left us mourning the ladies we loved so. There were five casualties, when all was said and done.

Silver Lining: In times of strife, you learn a lot about the people around you. We would have lost our whole flock that morning, if our neighbor hadn't come to alert us. Also, Zelda's victims were cleaned, plucked, and given to a family who really appreciated the free organic food, thanks to my friend and farm wife mentor, Tawnya. The most helpful thing any of us can have on a journey of learning is someone who knows what they are doing and is inclined to help. We are humbly grateful for the smart, kind people in our lives. They kept a bad situation from getting worse, and even made the best of it.  

Back to Bloody Monday: At first, I was thinking like a pet owner. My girls! No more would I giggle at the sight of Rosalyn's cheekpuffs, or marvel at Pilar's beautiful silver-laced feathers. Anya, known as Onion, was our successful attempt to bring a Buff Orpington into the mix, without having  her end up a rooster. Pippi, who came to us in a post-rooster backwoods-style chicken trade, and fancied herself in charge (although we all know Hot Sauce is running the joint.) And the lovely Vilma, Blue Wyandotte who classed up the yard with her distinguished demeanor. I was heartbroken that I didn't do a better job of keeping them safe.

Then I started thinking like a farmer. A hungry farmer, who hasn't paid more than $20 for eggs in the last year. Five birds left, but six egg-eating mouths. We'd like to get an egg per person, per day, so we'd need at least six chickens. You do the math. Unless the guinea pigs suddenly start laying, we're in need of more fowl.

So we got two new chicks, because you just never know.*

*Step one in the process of starting over: When planning for the future, factor in a little failure.**

**Since beginning to compose this blog post, right after getting the chicks, we also lost Hot Sauce, our Rhode Island Red. The despondency-turned-resiliency cycle that kicked in around here went by so quickly, I nearly scrapped this whole post to make a big lofty one about never giving up. Instead, I'll just say that here, quickly. Never give up. Not until you're dead. If you give up while you're living, your days after that will be miserable disfunction, even if they aren't chockfull of frustrating failure. A dream, burning within you, is your best fuel. It may never be realized, but you are better off  powered by that than hapless resignation for the rest of your days.R.I.P, Hot Sauce, you elegant backyard boss. 

 Yo, you just got a blog post in your blog post, dawg.

 Returning to the issue at hand, and the regular-sized font: This was supposed to be the first year in a few when we would skip the fun of bringing chicks home from the farm store, Sure, they are cuteness walking, and I love that spring around the corner means the cheeping of fluffy little baby birds, but we were at capacity, until last Monday, that is. So, after feeling sad for a bit, I redirected my energy, dusted off the heat lamp and the tiny feeder I made years ago, and set up a brooder (a good place for chicks to stay warm during their first few weeks.)

Chicks need warmth, but they also need their area to have a cool spot. This is because they need to be able to find the right spot that's just the right temperature. During the day, the temperature around them fluctuates, and they will keep the all-important correct body heat level if given freedom to move from one temperature to the another. This is why they have a heat lamp focused on only one half of their cage.

The cage is the other thing. Usually, a high-walled container is ideal for a brooder, especially if it's going to have more than two chicks in it. I opted to put a high-walled area in the cage for them: an old basket with a door cut out of the side. They like to perch on it, and nap.

On the other side of the cage, we have the food, and grit, and water. The cool side of the cage is the best place for these things because the water can get murky under the warm light. I suspect all sorts of microscopic life forms might flourish in both their food and their water if it's warmer than necessary.

The sudden loss of most of our flock still makes me sad, but it's hard to stay that way when watching Parkour and Sasha, (Gold and Black Stars). Chicks are entertaining and engrossing. They're kind of reptilian, despite their eye-searing fluffy cuteness. Just like miniature chickens, they cock their heads, perch, scratch, preen their wing feathers and do battle: hilarious, wee warfare in which there is cranky peeping and tiny wing flapping. We call them our little dinosaurs.

They make me think of death and life. You usually see those terms reversed. Life, then death, right? But what if death is put first? Get out your mental pitchforks and help me turn this compost pile of ideas. Flip the cycle upside down and think of it that way, death almost seems like birth, because it gives way to what is next. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." I agree with John, even when what happens while you're planning, is death. So, while I feel sadness at the unexpected end of something, it is me mourning a lost plan, and plans are just plans. They aren't life.

Life is waking up and stretching your wings. It's tunneling your way out of a boring place, to run free. It's sensing danger and acting instinctively to save yourself, even if you can't. It's sensing food and acting instinctively, to hunt. It's running and hiding in fear. It's running and hurting with glee. It's helping and comforting those around you shocked by a day's events. It's thinking of tomorrow, with your stomach. It's starting over and over again, and getting better at it each go-around. It's a flow of behaviors that continue as the organisms who carry them out cyclically appear and recede. People will always make plans, dogs will always chase things,  and chicks will always be cute, and welcome.