Boxes
This week’s Topic on the Heads or Tails site is: BOXES
And today is a perfect day to talk about boxes. Yesterday I made a phone call to the Post Office, asking whether they had a special delivery for me. Nope - not yet. This morning I woke up early and made the same phone call. Steve (at the PO) didn’t even have to look through the mail - the box was in. So I dragged myself out of bed and drove and a respectable speed the nine miles to the post office. I walked through the door (6:47am) and I knew my box was there. I totally knew. This was my box:
I knew the box was there because I could HEAR it. From outside. I’m sure that Steve didn’t mind my coming to the PO before business hours, because it allowed them to do their work without the extra sound effects. It’s amazing how much noise this box made. When I got home and looked inside the box, this is what we found:
Thirty-something chicks. They were hatched on Monday in northern Ohio, and mailed (priority mail) to us here in the boondocks. How cute are they? And LOUD!!!
Obviously, the chicks couldn’t stay for long in this box, so we moved them over to this:
We had to dip their little beaks into sugar water, and then into their starter food. This is what introduced them to their sustenance for from now on out. And they picked it up like champs. Amazing. Apparently baby chicks don’t need food for the first couple of days of life outside their eggs because they have reserves from their yolk sacs. Who knew!!? But around day 2 or 3, they start getting hungry and thirsty. And we helped them out. They arrived just in time.
By the way, this box is housed in another box. . . this one:
Prince Farming and our son made it good and cozy so that the chicks can’t get out, and the dogs can’t get in. And this box is actually inside the garage, so other wild critters can’t get to them either. For now. They’ll live here for a while until they’re older, and until Prince Farming has figured out and built their out-door fortress.
When the kids got home from school, there was tons of excitement. If these chicks look a little stressed, you can figure out why. They’ve had a rough few days of life, but from now on out, I think they’ll be very happy in (and out) of their box
Hopefully these critters will do better than these did. And here starts another chapter, or sub-story line, of my farm life.
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