Of all the times I've said, "I wish I'd gotten this on video," this one stands out. I really wish I'd gotten this on video.
I've decided the best entertainment in town is found in my sun room where our mother hen, Henny Penny, is raising her three little chicks under the watchful eye of my drooling Mastiff. Now, this is not my first rodeo...we've raised chickens before...but this is the first time we've done it with an actual chicken for a mother. Last time we brought home a box full of chicks and put them in a pen with a heat lamp, food and water, and listened to them peep the night away as they cuddled to each other to sleep. The dynamic has changed with the introduction of a parental figure. And I'm suddenly not feeling so bad about the way I raised my kids.
Like an episode of Benny Hill, or the keystone cops of the silent movie era, the chicks ran around the pen, like cartoon characters in fast motion, as the mother hen spun around in a circle, trying to corral her young under her wings for nap time. Keeping the two unhatched duck eggs between her legs, she made several attempts to sit, but the chicks continued to run circles around her as she squawked and flapped her wings at them. I had tears running down my face as I watched the show, wondering how long before the babies got tired, or the mother gave up. When she finally got them relatively settled, they took turns jumping on to her back only to slide down again.
I had no idea baby chicks were such rebels.
I'm going to try to catch them on video tomorrow. I can't promise anything. The little buggers move pretty quickly, but I'll do my best. You've just got to see this.
Until the next time...I'll be watching the show.