Just Like A Kid

There are behavioral traits that seem universal across species, and that's not me just anthropomorphizing again.  Baby anythings are much alike.  I would put the chicks at about the toddler stage now.  Having raised my own flock of people chicklets, it's like being transported back in time to watch these little birds.  The sun is just coming over the hill now and I heard the first peeps of the day.  I went in to take off the nighttime blanket covering their cage and fill the feeder for breakfast.  Like all babies, the chicks have voracious appetites.  Yesterday they ate four full cups of feed.  I found a smaller water bottle so they have more room to run around and play, and that they do!  Until they get a little older, they'll get lukewarm water.  Like kids on the playground, the chicks chase and yell, getting louder and louder.  Several times throughout the day, they all settle down, snuggling together for a nap.  They get especially rowdy just before bedtime.  Coming back in from putting the bigger kids to bed at sundown, I cover them with a bath towel to hold the day's warmth and shut their door for the night.  How many countless times in my life have I said, "Good night, sleep tight.  Don't let the bedbugs bite," just as my mother said to me.  (She and I always ended it with, "I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight."  A nice thought to go to sleep on.)

It might seem a little nutty to raise chicks in the house.  Like human children, they are messy.  Really messy.  They're learning to scratch for their food and the mash gets thrown all over.   Ah, memories of highchairs and smeared baby food.  I'm grateful I don't have to change tiny diapers, but the cardboard under the cage still has to be changed frequently.

Time does fly.  It seems no time at all since the last full moon.  In a very short time, the chicks, like kids, will be ready to go out on their own.  As it was with my Kids, I'll miss them when they go.