My Life as a Chicken — the Trials and Troubles of My Life (Part 4)

(This is part 4 of the story. If you haven't read the first parts, here they are: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) In this story so far, there are 3391 words.

---------- 16th April----------

Two weeks old today. Life has been going fairly smoothly since I wrote last. Of course, since I'm getting older, life has sped up and I'm finding more things to do. The mewing animal was not able to come in again, although occasionally we heard it yowling all over the place.

The other chicks are starting to “feather out”. Their yellow and brown fuzz is slowly being replaced by white and brown feathers. They look pretty ugly! I'm starting to feather out too, but I don't look as bad as they do—I always make sure I'm well groomed.

---------- 23rd April ----------

Three weeks old today! After breakfast, the family came out and started cramming all of the brown chicks into crates. There were holes in the sides of the crates, so we stuck our heads out and looked around. The sky—a beautiful blue—had fluffy clouds floating in it, and the maple trees were wearing their leafy green coats. It was beautiful! Some of the not-so-smart chicks stuck their toes out of the cracks, and got them pinched. They squawked, and got them out of the way as fast as they could! I was smart, though, and didn't stick my toes out. I kept them on the solid plastic. Once all the crates were loaded, the trailer started moving. (Thankfully, we were one of the last so we were on the top; when you're at the bottom you get all the poo from chickens in the crates above you on top of you. One of my friends was at the bottom, and told me so. She said that it took a long time to clean off.)

We jolted out the drive, and headed down the road and turned into a lush paddock. There, we were unloaded onto the clean grass. It was beautiful! There were so many things to eat—crickets hopping in the grass, an occasional earthworm, and the rich clover and lucerne. It was yummy!

After getting our fill, we wandered around and explored our surroundings. There was a wire mesh fence around the pen, and plenty of room to chomp on grass and make dust baths in the sun. The gaps in between wires on the fence were about three by four inches, and we easily slipped through them. Oh, you should have seen the fun we had! Once outside the fence, we raced around the paddock, eating the grasshoppers and bugs. I noticed a fence like our own around another group of brown chickens, and hurried over to investigate. Other chicks went so far as to go through the fence to visit with the chickens, but I stayed outside. Life is more fun outside of the fence, you know!

After the chicks got through the shocking fence, they hurried to meet the chickens scratching in the grass. The chooks, of course, were curious about those strange chicks, and came over to investigate. They started pecking the poor chicks, who didn't know where to go to get away.

Thankfully, the humans intervened, and got us all back in the right places. They put up a double net, so we can't get through. It's been a pretty good day overall. I'm really enjoying being outside!!!

---------- 2nd May ----------  

One month old today. I'm growing bigger and bigger—I can hardly believe how small I was at first compared to now!

Since I wrote last, we've had something on wings (I think it's an owl) that comes at night, gets one of the chickens, and drags it outside where it eats the poor chick. It happened over and over—just one per night—and more than 20 chickens have died so far![1] It's mostly the ones closest to the door that get eaten, so I stay as far away as possible. One night the giant closed the door, and the animal didn't come. Which was nice, but the next night the door was left open, and the same thing was repeated!

The giants have tried different ways of trying to scare the owl off—they've hung pie tins and glittery CD's on wires all across the area where we are, but the thing still keeps coming. Don't they know that it comes at night? If I could, I would tell them! But they speak in a strange language that I can't understand. Hopefully they'll find out soon! I don't want to be the next one caught!

          Later:          

Eek! The shadow has come again!

It's mid-afternoon, and a hawk has been circling above us about this time every day for the past week or so. I'm huddled—with all the other chickens—in the far corner of our pen where he can't fly in and get us.

It still is scary, though! He flies around and around and around, uttering fearful war whoops, and making all my feathers stand on end. Oh, I wish that I might fly to another planet so I won't have to put up with the scary beast!

He's smart and very cunning, he often goes and sits on a barrel that our feed is stored in until we think all is clear, and then grabs one of us when we venture out to check! It's a fearful experience, I can assure you! He doesn't care about all the wires of tins and glinting CD's, he calls them “Crazy nuisances”.

          Later:          

What was that? A startling sound—like cannon fire—just about blasts my eardrums out. What in the world...? When it hit, I heard the hawk scream. Then all was quiet. I wonder what happened? Some of the chickens crouched in the shadows behind the door are sticking their heads out to see. No...it can't be! They are saying that the hawk is lying dead on the other side of the fence! A brown-skinned giant has come over, and is picking up the hawk! I'm going to see what is happening!

          Later:          

The giant took the hawk over to his place, and put it by a shack. When the giants who take care of us came, they went over to see it. I heard the children say, “It's HUGE!” We are just relieved that it won't be getting us anymore![2] 

FOOTNOTES:
[1]At that time, about 45 chickens got killed before we figured out the problem.

[2]The hawk was probably a Cooper's Hawk. Their wingspan is 2-3 feet across. It was beautiful! Our neighbor was an Indian, and claimed that he could legally shoot it. We were just glad that it wouldn't be a menace after that!

I'll be back later with more!