Day 102 of 365 blogs
Our day started a little after 4 AM in a thunderstorm. There are times when we make the wrong decision and have to pay for that decision. We put the chicks on grass yesterday and put electric fence around them to protect them from predators but that did not protect them from the rain. Cornish Cross chickens are bred for meat and not for thinking. They do not know that they are getting rained on in the front of the chicken tractor and just move to the back and they would be fine. At 4 I woke up and something whispered to me, or perhaps yelled to me, go outside to the meat birds. I told Jim I was going outside to save the chickens and he said, “Not without me.”
In the rain and some lightening, we walked to the field and found them all huddled together in the one-foot area that was not covered with a roof. We moved their soaking wet bodies to the back of the tractor and found one dead. As we stared at them, we realized we could not leave them there in the cold wet area with no lights. We picked them all up again and moved them into their carrier and took them back to the brooder, turned on both lights, and closed the lid. Then we went back to bed about 4:45 AM. I fervently prayed for a miracle to save them. They were shivering and wet and some just laid there.
We woke up at 7:30 which was a shock, first of all that we had been able to go back to sleep and second that we had slept so late. It was our last morning to milk Missy. We stopped by the chicken brooder and found 50 very alive, dry, and moving-around chickens. Thank you for our blessings.
It rained most of the day and we were just starting on an indoor project when we saw the sun come out. We changed our plans, went outside and made the paddock for the cows. Missy was not even all the way out of the corral when she stopped to eat fresh grass. Brisket did not see the grass. He only saw his mom and immediately started nursing. This IS our last day to milk. They are so content on the grass. We are excited to manage our grass with paddocks.
Next, we moved the chicken tractor into the barn and put the meat birds in there for this week when it will be raining so much. Problem solved. All the animals are well and happy.
