Cabbage Patch Chaos

Our three groups of mother hens and their chirping broods take walks all around our various gardens. And when they do and I’m outside I have the mothering instinct to count my chickens. The largest group is really growing fast and for some unknown reason I can count all 10 of them quickly as they mostly stay around mommy chicken. So when I saw the next group that was supposed to have 5 jumping wonders following their mother, I kept on counting just 4. Hmm. What to do? So I figured that the missing chickadee was nearby and I continued walking past them into the area that they’d just vacated. By the time I passed the cabbages that are really humongous, I heard the errant baby crying out for mama. But hearing it and getting it out of there are two different things. So I undid the makeshift chicken wire gate that John erected to keep the flock out of our vegetables, and tried to figure out where the little one was. The new problem though was that as I moved the leaves, the baby chick kept moving away deeper into the mass. Frantic to get out of there it tried to squeeze through a tiny hole near the ground but it was only a futile attempt through a pinhole. Eventually, as my patience wore thin, and the associated chirping of the frenzied chick along with the squawking of the mother drove me completely mad, I finally got up the courage to to bend down and separating the enormous leaves while trying not to break them, I saw the baby and I scooped it up awkwardly while it screeched. I did manage to hold it but the hen began to attack me from the other side of the fence thinking that I was hurting her baby. I hurled the little feathered friend onto the ground outside of the cabbage patch and winced with pain. Both of my hands had been skillfully penetrated by her beak, but it was the shock of her determined motherly offense that stung the most, just as I was saving her baby.

Living here, so close to nature I must be vigilant at all times. When chicks get lost they can perish very quickly. But touch wood…we’ve been very lucky so far with these groups of offspring growing up and thriving in the wilds of our home gardens.