Chick Disaster!

So, this morning, John moved the little chicks from their box in the garage and to the chicken tractor in the backyard.   I was planning to post a happy little blogpost about their smooth transition. 

BUT . . .

I came home this afternoon from running errands and went immediately to the backyard to check on the new kittens and chicks.  I found the chicken tractor EMPTY and could see one chick lying limply in the grass.  I immediately called John who rushed home to help me deal with all this.

Even as I reached for the chick, I assumed it was dead.  But, when I grabbed it, it sprung to life and began chirping frantically.   It was pretty beat up and missing lots of feathers.  I took it back to the tractor, which is when I saw that the chicken wire had been pulled back on one side of the tractor.  I then went on a hunt around the yard and found chicks various places.  The ones in the worst shape were  splayed out in plain sight in the grass.  Others had been able to hunker down in hiding spots, and I found them in the flowerbeds, under the slide, under the kids' red wagon.  All told we were able to find 14 . . . all of them alive for the time being.  That means that 7 are still missing entirely.

We searched everywhere we could think of to look, knowing that if we didn't find them soon and get them back to food and water, they wouldn't have a chance at survival. 

Once back in the tractor (that John repaired) most of the chicks went for the water and food.  One just sat in the corner and rocked itself.  There was a very clear bite mark under one's wing that I wanted to photograph, but they were entirely too shaken up for me to open up the tractor. 

Will they make it?  Don't know. 

And, where are the other seven? 

Maybe they made it out of the yard and off to safety.  That's what I want to believe, anyway. 

So, does "innocent until proven guilty" apply to the farmyard?  If so, I can't lay any blame since I wasn't here all morning. 

So, I can't be sure who's culpable.  I do know that when I walked into the backyard, Dexter didn't come bounding up to me but rather tucked his tail between his legs. 

Hmmmmm.

By the way, you still have until the end of the day to comment and get entered into this month's drawing!