It seems that Kindergarten teachers in her district wanted to hatch chickens from eggs, but would not move forward until they had arranged for a secure home for the little chicks after the teaching moments.
One year the biology department took all the chicks, but when the teachers found out where the chicks went, well, they refused to hatch another one. Let’s just say that Rikki Tikki Tavi would have had his hands full. Ewww.
So before the teachers would get out their little in-class incubators they insisted on knowing where the chicks would go.
And so my sister called me. “Can you find homes for chicks again this year?”
I assure her that somewhere in the middle of an agricultural community I would find farm homes for a couple dozen chicks.
Actually it is an easy job. I have a list of volunteers almost as long as the number of chicks.
We usually meet half way between our homes and transfer a large box into the back of our Jeep. The chicks, you see, travel comfortably in a custom made, well ventilated wooden box designed and built by one of the kindergarden dads in his garage in the middle of the city.
During our drive to their new homes, we don’t turn on the radio because listening to all the peeping is kind of fun, especially when we hit potholes. And there are a lot of potholes this year.
And so we transported 29 little chicks in a variety of colors from yellow to brown to speckled and in a variety of sizes to their new home at a free range farm.
While we rescued them from the boa constrictor, we could not promise them freedom from racoons, weazels, minks or hawks, but most of the chicks will get to grow up in the sunshine, scratching in the grass, and happily chowing down on worms and bugs.
Life doesn’t get much better than that, right?