Heartache in the Chicken Run

Last night the kids went outside with their flashlight after dark to look for night crawlers since it had rained earlier in the day. They collect night crawlers throughout the summer so they can use them for fishing. While the kids were out, they went back to check on the chickens and the chicks (we keep our 2 1/2 month old chicks in the run right now to keep them separated from the older chickens in the coop until the chicks grow to be about the same size as the older ones) to make sure all the chickens were accounted for. When my son and daughter went past the run, they counted only five chicks, not the six that were supposed to be in there. They searched throughout the run, but couldn’t find Dahlia, the missing chick. Both of the kids came running into the house yelling that Dahlia was missing. How can that be?

Our run is very predator proof. We used 1/2″ hardware cloth on every opening from roof to below ground throughout the run. Yes, we even installed hardware cloth a few inches under the top soil to prevent predators from digging up into the run. My husband and I asked the kids if they had accidentally let Dahlia out of the run when they were going in and out of the run. They insisted that they had not. My husband grabbed the large flashlight and we all hurried out to the run. The kids and I waited outside of the run while my husband went in to inspect. He checked all the places that the kids had checked before he noticed that the screw-on lid to the five-gallon waterer was sitting cockeyed on the bucket. My husband lifted the lid and I heard him mutter “Oh geez.” He reached into the bucket, and slowly pulled out little Dahlia, wet, limp, and lifeless. My husband gently set Dahlia on the ground while he securely screwed the top back onto the waterer before returning to pick her up. I felt sick to my stomach, my daughter immediately cried out in terror as big crocodile tears fell down her cheeks, and my son walked away in a sort of skip, not knowing exactly what to do as he put his hands up on his head. The whole scene was heartbreaking.

Quite a few people have given me that smile with a short shake of the head after I tell them that all of our layers have names. I can’t help it. I love animals, and if they live with us, they are a part of our family. You see, each chicken has his or her own personality. Goldy (Golden Rod) is my gardening pal. She stays right by my side as I pull weeds, dig holes, or till up the soil in hopes that a big, juicy worm or bug will surface.

Rose is the boss of all of the hens, well, and sometimes the rooster too. She is also one of the first chickens to run to me at full speed when I call the flock.

Thistle was given her name by my husband when she started to peck at our hands and run away from us when she was just a few days old. These days, she seems to be an old soul who likes to sit by us on the deck when we relax at the end of the day. 

Dahlia, sweet Dahlia, calm, quiet, and easy to hold.

As my husband held Dahlia, I ran into the house to get a towel and was back out in less than a minute. My husband notified me that Dahlia was still alive, but barely. I wrapped her in the towel and held her close to me as I carried her inside. She would move her head every once in awhile, but the breaths she was taking were short, shallow, and occurring every ten seconds or so. Close to death. One thing that struck me was how cold she was. Usually the chickens are like large heat packs when you hold them. As I felt her cold body in my arms, I was reminded of a story my mom had told me a couple of years ago.

Bud, the owner of the family farm prior to when my parents had bought it, had woken up early one morning to start on the farm chores when he noticed that a lamb had been born during the night. That particular night was one of those frigid Minnesota winter nights where the temperatures had dropped well below zero. The lamb was frozen solid by the time Bud had reached the little one. He wrapped the lamb up and gently held her under a heat lamp. Miraculously, the lamb had thawed, awoken, and went on to live a full life. Can you imagine? If this lamb survived, maybe Dahlia could survive.

By the time I walked inside with Dahlia, both of the kids had asked me a dozen times if she would be okay. As I looked down at her with her head drooping down, eyes closed, and barely breathing, I replied “You probably should start praying because we need a miracle.” Within this short time, my husband had gathered a large storage bin, put a few inches of pine shavings in it, and attached a heat lamp to the side. I gently laid Dahlia down in the bucket under the lamp and went to get a blow dryer. With the setting on low and cool (which is a lukewarm temperature), I began drying Dahlia’s feathers. We used the blow dryer for about a half an hour, making sure to dry around her neck, chest, under her wings, and back. Soon after, we noticed that Dahlia was trying to move her head a little more often, and she started to open her eyes sporadically. I warmed up a heat pack, wrapped it in a towel, and gently slipped it underneath Dahlia for additional warmth. After an hour of continuous warming, she began to shiver hard, and her breathing became deeper and more regular. Two hours after we found her, Dahlia started to pick up her head, look around, and she even attempted a few, weak chirps. Everyone in the family sat silently with Dahlia, observing and praying. We knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet, but we all began to feel a little hopeful.

Preparing to have Dahlia in the house for the night, the kids and I went downstairs to lay newspaper down and get the puppy gate set up on the basement floor. Everything we have read about chickens warns chicken owners to keep injured chickens away from the flock because other chickens will often peck or gang up on an injured chicken. Lady (Lady Slipper), another young chick, and Dahlia have become the best friends in the flock of new chickens, and I had a feeling that Dahlia may feel more relaxed inside if she could at least be with Lady, so I brought Lady downstairs to see if she would do well sitting with Dahlia. We stayed with the two of them for awhile to see if they would get along. Sure enough, Lady and Dahlia were very happy just resting inside. I woke up early in the morning to check on the chicks. When I peeked downstairs Lady and Dahlia were laying side-by-side, quiet as could be, in the early morning sunshine. Here we are, 24 hours after our horrible discovery, and Dahlia is doing very well. 

As it turns out, two days ago, the kids had removed the top of the water bucket to get some water out for a “project” they were working on by their swing set. The top of the waterer hadn’t been securely screwed back on after their project, so it was loose on top of the bucket. Dahlia must have flown to the top of the waterer just to fall into a water trap. Lesson learned. We figured that she had been in the bucket for a couple of hours before we had found her. Even though Dahlia was on her last leg when we removed her from the bucket, she somehow managed to keep her head above water to prevent drowning. This shows the determination that any living being has when faced with life or death situations.

As we returned home tonight from our Father’s Day activities up at the cabin, my son ran right down to the basement, before the rest of us had even stepped into the house, to check on Dahlia. Before we knew it, he bounded back up the stairs exclaiming “Everything looks perfect!” My daughter looked up at me with a big smile and said “It looks like God gave us a miracle.” When we bought our first chicks a couple of years ago, we had no idea the joy, love, and at times, heartache our feathered friends would bring us. We do know that we love having them around us, and we are so very thankful that Dahlia is still with us today. Those chickens make our home a better place.