Chicks

It's spring: the tulips are blooming, the sun is shining, and the days are getting longer. Mac is cutting carbs from his diet so we have been eating lots of eggs. And we just happen to be fortunate enough to have an old bath tub not getting any use. What better reasons to get some new chicks?

Megan was so excited as we perused the stock at Wilco, but she was disappointed that we didn't get a duckling. I tried to explain that ducks needed a pond, but she pointed out that we have a pond. In the end, we got five baby chicks: 2 buff sex-linked, 1 aracuana (blue eggs, like our old chicken Pearl), 1 black sex-linked, 1 barred rock, and 1 Rhode Island red.

Until about a month ago, Megan didn't understand the concept of giving things an actual name, which is why her stuffed animal collection includes Blue Elephant, Seal, Little Bunny, Little Bear, Brown Bunny, and Orange Doll. But then Cousins William and Kate sent Megan a big stuffed dog when Liam was born. 'Big Dog' was the front runner for a while, but then we pointed out that the dog kind of looked like Rusty in the book Rusty's Red Bone and so the dog was dubbed Rusty. This has opened a new phase in Megan's naming scheme: The unnamed character opposite 'Sam-I-am' in Green Eggs and Ham? In our house his name is Rusty. The little boy who plays with grandpa? Also Rusty. And so when we asked Megan what we should name the chicks, it was no surprise that Megan's response was "should we name them Rusty?" Mac and I told Megan we could name the red one Rusty. Just then Megan had an epiphany,"Should we name the black one John Jacob?" Hey we are the Smiths, so why not? The other three remained unnamed.

Unfortunately, one of the chicks didn't make it more than three hours after we got it home (50% mortality is not uncommon with chicks, but still, 3 hours??). Wouldn't you know it, it was the black one. This morning Megan went out to check the chicks. Her first words,"Where's the black one?" It made me want to cry! We tried to explain:"It was sick so it had to go away"
"It had a tummyache?" Megan asked. We agreed this is what happened. Then we decided the aracuana could be called John Jacob. But still Mac and I are left wondering if we should have gotten another little black chick.

Anyway, the chicks will be hanging out in the bathtub (covered to protect against the cats) in our garage for the next 6-8 weeks, which should give us enough time to build them a coop.