I'm going to take a break from my regular sarcastic, trying to be funny, posts to write something a little different. Warning --- this is a long post my friends.
For the past six weeks Mike and I have been partnering with some sweet family friends in hatching and brooding some baby chicks.
Yes - I live in suburban Raleigh.
Yes - my home owners association would flip out if they knew we had bitties in our den.
No - I am not becoming one of those real housewives of Rolesville who needs a backyard flock to keep up with the neighbors.
I currently work and have worked in the agriculture industry for my entire professional career. I know about commercial chicken operations, bird physiology, and a little bit of backyard flock management. Flashback to me growing up in rural, middle of no where Caswell County where chickens wandering from yard to yard was no big deal. My family did not have any large livestock, but we kept some chickens, geese, ducks, and guineas occasionally. While I don't understand or identify with some "city people" who want to raise chickens to be relevant or "cool," I appreciate the recent trend for urbanites to raise backyard poultry as a practical means of producing fresh eggs for their families.
I KNOW there are a lot of people out there still who think chicks become chicken nuggets, or that hatching eggs into chicks is not that complicated of a process. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, out of approximately 66 fertile eggs we have had this summer, we had about 12 to hatch. That may not seem like very many but there are some valid reasons for why that is. We lost all 25 of the first hatch due to mishandling prior to placing in the incubator, we had 4 to hatch out of the second hatch (21 eggs) due to a temperature error in the incubator, and we had 9 of the last 21 eggs hatch. Our hatch rates have been improving each time!!
This is where God amazes me. When we take managing the production of life into our own hands... in this case chicks... variables like temperature, humidity, timing, lighting, on and on can make or break the successful "birth" of new babies. Everything must ride in the ideal or optimal range for healthy, non deformed, happy bittes. BUT when a broody hen sits on the hatch in the barn or coop, she gets up and down and may shift around. The hatching eggs get bumped and potentially stepped on. There is no way to control light, constant temperature, or humidity (especially in a noncommercial scenario) and yet perfectly healthy and happy chicks can be born with no issue.
One thing most people do not see when they purchase cute little chicks from Tractor Supply is what happens when deformed or sick chicks come into the world. They're culled before they ever get shipped to the store so I think people assume all bittes come with straight toes, beaks, and clean rear ends. This summer's hatch resulted in several "special" chicks with twisted legs, crooked toes, and two that were literally trapped in their shells and unable to hatch unassisted. My chicken queen / hatch partner and I spent many minutes and tense texts trying to determine what to do for these little guys. They're pitiful, but cute. Clinging to life but what quality of life? In a large scale poultry facility, they would have been humanely disposed of, but we had watched the eggs hatch, fought for them in some cases, and now were faced with God sized questions and no fun answers.
God mercifully took care of one deformed chick, another is still hanging on, and then the last two... two that I helped hatch with my own hands... I put to sleep early this morning. Put them to sleep myself. People may call me incredibly soft, or stupid but it broke my heart and hurt my feelings so bad I don't even have the words to write about it.
This morning I carefully wrapped my two deceased little ones in an empty coffee bag, and buried them near the tobacco field behind my house. I spend a lot of time in prayer back there pacing amongst the plant rows. I wept bitterly.
I'm telling you a story about our sweet summer chicken hatch to get to three main points. Hope you're with me so far...
1.) God is Creator and He is sovereign. He brings things into the world and takes them out again according to His purposes. He can create and bring beauty in anything without any type of ideal or optimal conditions. He can use imperfect things to teach us perfect lessons about patience, love, and empathy.
2.) I don't know how people can believe the outrageous claims of animal rights activists who paint farmers as cruel and heartless. I know there are bad actors, but overall the health and wellbeing of our farmers' animals is of utmost importance to them. Detach all of the emotion for a second and ask yourself why a farmer would do anything to damage the very living creatures he depends on for his livelihood? They take great pride in their work and want healthy, cared for animals to feed their own families just like we all do. Then put on empathy glasses and see that our farmers are not machines or corporate suits. I've watched more than one farmer tear up talking about the calf they had to pull during birth that didn't make it, or an entire litter of piglets that were smothered when the sow rolled over onto them and they had to haul away the dead. Taking a bunch of cute, yellow fuzzy bittes to the compost bin doesn't happen with a smile and a shrug.
3.) In our world today, there is very little, if any, compassion. As I stood there and wept for those little birds I thought about how the sanctity of all life has become so desperately lost in sin. I was weeping for the birds, but how much more so should I weep for the darkness in my brothers and sisters. Animals are not equal to people. God created them and put them here for both our enjoyment and our use, yet there are people who senselessly mistreat and / or kill them for sport. Now there are people who have turned to killing one another for sport. Trying to numb pain, misunderstanding, and confusion with outright hate and violence. If people are not participating in the killing, they're justifying it. Announcing their righteousness is greater than anyone else's. I thought about Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter. He extended his life by splitting his soul. He split his soul by committing heinous acts of murder and evil. We're witnessing society shatter its soul and auction it piece by piece on CNN. I wept for our country and all of the lostness in this dark world.
The Johnsons, her majesty the Pookie dog, Ralph, Lil' Wayne, Carmen Sandiago, the Little Red Hen, Bert, Ernie, and Rocky send y'all greetings and blessings from our castle to yours.
LJ
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