Huhtala Homeschoolers

So, a few weeks ago, Squish turned 8 weeks old. He is quite big, and we decided he had lived in a box long enough. It was time to go spread his wings and venture out into the real world. (In other words, he was going to Grandmas to live with other chickens.) Some things to mention that we hadn't really considered up to this point:

1.Squishy has always lived in a box, with a heated lamp, only venturing outside for 10 minutes at a time with the kids while the dog was locked in his crate.

2.He has always had his food and water there for him, in the same place.

3.He has never seen another chicken. He thinks he is human.

As you might guess...these things might create a problem in our story.....

So, we pack Squish up in a smaller, travel size box, with his lamp and set on the road to Grandmas. The plan is to bake Christmas cookies at Grandma Debbie's, then go to Grandma Karen's for a Christmas family gathering. When we arrive, we immediately take Squishy around the house and let the other hens out. We then litter the ground with stale, moldy bread, because that's a TREAT to chickens! As the chickens ran up the hill to eat the bread, Squish didn't seem to notice them. I don't know what I thought he would do....maybe flap excitedly and squawk and have a happy, joyful dance with his new chicken friends? Sadly, he just kept chasing after us humans! Whenever we would push him towards the other hens and try to quickly retreat, he would dash after us as if to say, “Where are we going?” Finally, we outsmarted the CHICKEN and escaped onto the deck without him noticing. One of the hens went right up to him as she was eating the bread, and Squish suddenly did a “double take” as if he was thinking, “Where in the world did THAT come from??” He then noticed that this “thing” had an interesting red hangy thing on its head that should be pecked (in case it was edible). As he pecked, the hen indeed noticed him for the first time, and ATTACKED! She reared up and pecked, calling her girlfriends in the meantime. They all ran over in defense and jumped poor Squish! He tried to fight back but didn't have a chance, and when the rooster stepped in, he made a hasty get away. For awhile, the rooster followed him all around the yard herding him away from his “ladies”.

Not a good start...but I knew that hens often take awhile to accept newbies and so we persevered. At this point, Squish was panting with thirst, but no matter how many times I tried to get him to drink out of a bowl...he just didn't get it. I decided maybe it would be best if he just went into the pen and became familiar with his new home there. We brought him in the hen house, showed him how to get up and down from the nesting boxes, and how to get out of the house into the pen. We then put some corn on the ground so all the other chickens would come in, which they did eagerly. Squish now had a new respect for his new “friends” and stayed quite clear of them. They proceeded to ignore him as before and fill their belly's with corn. I put Squish near their water, and once again, he just didn't get it. Jay just kept saying, “Don't worry, he'll drink when he gets thirsty enough” but I really wasn't too sure. I mean, animals have instincts but what if you've messed them up with a sheltered life? Suddenly, one of the hens noticed Squishy standing in a corner and proceeded to stalk over to him. Squish started to panic and didn't know where to run, then this mean old biddy just started pecking at him! He screamed and squawked a sound I had never heard from him before and proceeded to run circles around the edges of the pen, drawing everyone's attention. I felt so sad, and the kids begged me to let him out, but I told them it was necessary.

We had to leave to our dinner at Grandma Karen's, but we were going to come back that night to pick up goodies, so I told the kids we would check on Squish one more time then. When we came back, it had been dark for some time and the temperatures were dropping fast, I told Jay I really wanted to check Squish. I just wanted to make sure he knew to go into the actual hen house when it was this cold. (Mama was worried!) I didn't expect him to be cuddled up to his nasty new family but wanted to be assured that he was, in fact, under a roof. As Jay and I walked down the hill to the pen, he shone the flashlight into the outside of the pen onto the ground and there, in front of the door, lying in the mud, in the cold, was my Squishy! He was either too afraid to go into the pen, or just didn't know better. I went to the door and opened it and cooed, “C'mere my Squish...” He began to peep like a little new born chick, struggled to his feet and waddled over to me, peeping and chirping. I scooped him up and put him against me inside my jacket, where he promptly buried his head under my arm as if to say, “Mom! It was awful! Don't make me go back in there!” I turned to Jay and said, “He's coming home.”

Jay got his travel box and lamp out of the car, and we put him in the house. He began to promptly clean himself (remember this is the first time he's ever been dirty) and peeped and scratched merrily at his shavings. We put a bowl of water in his box, which he tipped over repeatedly and did not drink. We finally left for home, and when we arrived, we set up a new BIGGER box that we had taken from Grandma. We put fresh food and water in, and he ran over to HIS water, and he began to drink, and drink, and drink, and DRINK! We put a perch in for him which he promptly flew up to and fell asleep under his warm lamp.

The conclusion: Squish is not a chicken, he is a human. Like Mowgli in the Jungle Book, he has been raised by another species with no contact with his own kind. I incorrectly assumed that he was miserable in his cramped box and would be much happier running free all over Grandmas acreage with his fellow genus. As I looked at Squish that night in his box, I realized that he was so incredibly happy to be there. In the warm, familiar surroundings, with the family he knows and loves. :) Sure, I guess you could say we've “messed him up”, but I think he would disagree.

Welcome home Squish!