My Miracle

By Linda Patton – July 15, 2015

Choices, Choices, Choices! Today, I really want to write about chickens, but I know I should write about the thesis I am supposed to come up with. After weighing the options, I have decided to do further research and write about the thesis tomorrow. The chicken yard is changing, and I love this time more than any other.

Falina’s first brood hatched on February 6^th of this year. Unbeknownst to us, we gave her eggs that had not been fertilized, and we had not yet learned the importance of candling eggs. By candling eggs on certain days, we can tell if the egg is viable and the chick is growing.  We throw out any “duds” and replace them with eggs started in the incubator the same day as the hen started setting. Miracle got her name for being the only chick that hatched on Falina’s first try. The standard rule of thumb states that every brood is half roosters, and half pullets (young hens). We have to wait for at least 6 weeks, and sometimes longer before we know the males from the females. For eight weeks, I told my family that it would be a miracle if Falina’s only chick, turned out to be a pullet.

Falina gave that baby her very best. She didn’t complain about only having one, or that she looked nothing like her. She taught her everything a chick would need to know. Miracle mirrored her every move. Eventually we knew that she was a pullet, and her given name would be Miracle from then on out. As she got older, she tagged along with her cousins, whom Falina’s twin sister had hatched the week prior to Miracle. Two of them looked exactly like her. They eventually came to be known as Waffles and Shadow.

Falina loves to be held, but she could not pass that on to Miracle. Miracle has always been afraid. Until yesterday. Something changed. Miracle has talked nonstop to me for days now, and yesterday, she walked up to me and asked politely for me to pick her up. It took every ounce of courage that she could muster. But she did it. She sang and sang, and let me know she didn’t appreciate it when I put her down. One after another, all of the hens gathered around me, asking for me to hold them. Hannah and Falina learned that behavior at birth when I held their little eggs in my hand, gently opened the shell, and they pushed their way into the palm of my hand for their very first breath. The rest of my pullets did not have that experience. Some hatched under hens, and others hatched in an incubator without complications that required assistance. Only one, Snowbell, would even consider letting you touch her. Until yesterday that is.

As I sat by their house, one after another asked to be held. One after another sang to me, and then one after another let me put their feet on the ground. They didn’t fly away as the scared chickens they were before. Oh how soft they were, and how sweet it felt when one would lay her head on my shoulder. I love their beautiful voices, each one different, as though she had something special to say. Their feet clutch my fingers, as their trust in me builds moment by moment.  I have held Miracle no less than 6 times today. She just cannot get enough snuggles, and I just cannot get enough of her singing.

What made such a difference? For the last three days, there have been tiny little pullet eggs in the nests. Hens are loving creatures. When the first egg appears, every hen goes through a change. She proves herself as an adult and the other hens accept her as one of them. The adult hens go from pecking her, and squawking, to encouraging her, cackling for her, and teaching her how to lay. She becomes one of the flock. Finally her struggle to become an adult suddenly snaps to an end. I love these amazing creatures so much. How did I get so blessed?