Portage River Farm

On Wednesday morning I received a call from the post office. Even before the woman on the other end of the line had spoken, the sounds of tiny birds cheeping in the background gave away the purpose of the call. She enquired as to the best time for them to deliver our box of day-old chicks and we coordinated our schedules.

The appointed hour arrived to find me pacing the living room and watching the driveway. When the delivery was finally made, I thanked the driver and rushed downstairs in order to open the package in the laundry room where we have set up the brood box and heat lamp. As I cut the bands and bent back the lid I was at once sorry that the children weren't home to see them and also kind of glad that they weren't since I wasn't sure if the chicks had all come through their shipping ordeal alive.

Upon removing the lid I found twenty seven perfectly healthy and perfectly terrorized little chicks all crammed together in a small bunch in one corner of the box. As you can see from the picture, they are adorable as can be! I picked them up one by one and placed them into the brood box.

For the first couple of hours they just stood around cheeping very loudly. I could hear them all of the way to the front door as I rushed around the house taking care of some chores. With each pass through the living room our dog Finn would come up to me with a comically puzzled look on his face. He would look at me and then glance around the room while cocking his ears and working his expressive eyebrows. When he returned his gaze to me, the canine message was perfectly clear: "Don't you hear that? What the heck is going on! Why are you acting so excited? Wag, wag, wag!"

After a little while the chicks began to quiet down and began exploring their new home. One by one, I placed them at the feed and watering troughs. Immediately they began eating and drinking with gusto. After a few more hours of voracious feeding they settled down for a group nap in the warmth of the heat lamp.

Of all of the events of that day, the one that stands out for me as the best was getting to watch the children's faces as they saw the chicks for the first time. In turn they lit up with beaming grins and their eyes showed the emotions of coming upon the most adorable sight that they had ever seen. It was as if they had entered a room to discover that all of their beloved stuffed animals had come to life!