I Am Not A Farmer!

Earlier in the year we decided to join 4-H, Becca is in 3rd grade now so this was the first year she could participate. We had big plans, cooking, photography and chickens. Yep you heard me right...chickens! Funny thing happened, we got busy, life happened, and somehow we skipped out on the cooking and photography...but we still got the chickens. Thursday Feb. 21 we get the phone call to come pick up our 50 chicks (that was the smallest amount we could order), so I head to the fairgrounds with the kids. First we stopped by the store to buy a large plastic tub... I was sure they would laugh at me for only having the one tub, because, well 50 chicks thats alot! They would have laughed alright...apparently chicks are small, like super small, they had them all crammed in this tiny box ready to travel haha. I knew I was in trouble when we walked in to get them and they start sifting through the box to check them and record their tag numbers... the first chick they pulled out had a broken leg, then the second chick they pulled out had...ahem...expired, pretty sure I wanted to run out the door right then...without the chicks, but we didn't, we packed them up and headed home. We get the chicks home and because they are so small and the weather is still cold here at night we chose to keep them in our "office"...ok I can't lie the "office" is actually called the "junk room" around here. So here we are with 50 chicks in a tub, what could go wrong? Day 1, the girls are loving them they are so small and sweet, the kids hold them and help feed them etc. Day 2 more of the same, we did lose one chick but the kids didn't notice, and we didn't tell them. By the evening of day 2 the girls are starting to lose interest. Then came day 3...We woke up to another dead chick. The girls were super sad so I sent them out and tried to figure out what to do with this chick... I look around the room and find a large chic-filet cup (I didn't catch the irony of this until many days later) I scoop the chick up, I put him in a box and set it in the closet for Josh to dispose of when he got home. By this time the girls have decided that chickens stink and are gross (both statements are quite true). They continue to help me take care of them, only now it's because I force them too haha. Day 4 we are cleaning out the tubs, feeding etc when I notice chirping coming from somewhere other than the tub. I send the girls out and listen closer....No, it can't be! The chirping is coming from the box with the "dead" chicken! This poor chicken had been without food, water and heat....closed up in a box overnight and was ALIVE! Apparently I can't tell a live chick from a dead chick....now do you see why I am not a farmer!