Ten More Chickadees

There’s been an explosion of life around the place. From the flowers bursting open with their unexpected brightness on the darker days to the new growth on the lawns again. And in between the fecundity of the plant life a new mother has shown her babies to our world. She nested in one of the favored back garden spots under the large protective grasses that stayed warm enough on those chilly days and nights, and dry enough to get through a very tough winter.

When John gave me the news of the latest brood I asked how many there were. At first he had no idea since he only saw one or two sticking out from under her feathers, but a day or two passed and a couple more hatched and he told me that we have 10 baby chicks. Hmm. That’ll put us over 45 or maybe even 50 chickens. And they’re all quite hungry all the time. But unlike our last little family of babies, this mother hen has been quite adventurous and has taken them out into the further reaches of the garden. In fact, I was pruning a hedge and heard what I thought were the peeps of wee chicks nearby. But the hedge was on the other side of our back garden, well away from where the chicks had hatched and spent their first two days. So I walked around the hedge and to my amazement these babes en masse were trying to keep up with their mum and were only a few feet away. But after seeing me the mother took them into the bushes and out the other side. It was a little too close for her comfort level to be that close to me. So I got some soft mash and a bit of wet cat food and gave them a treat where they were congregating and without further ado, they all ate right in front of me.

Some even went as far as sitting inside the container.

So the moral of this story is that even through the worst storms, which we’ve had in spades, eventually the sunlight breaks out of that darkness and new life flourishes yet again.