Summer is over and the rains have become a regular feature in our everyday lives. It is a joy to watch cockerels and baby pullets running around the lush green grass of my little backyard. Nature seems to sport new leaves, so to speak, with birds flying about in high spirits and the once-dry creek that runs adjacent to my yard gurgling once more after a heavy downpour. I especially enjoy watching the late hatches as they strive to survive the elements at this time of the year. Despite the unfavorable weather conditions and the fact that they are my would-be breeders, I decided still to hen-hatch, hen-brood them. You see, I want them to be tougher and stronger than the ordinary fowls. The rains and the damp weather have done their fair share of damage already: A number of these chicks have already perished. But the stronger ones are still battling it out and I keep crossing my fingers every day that they’ll make it to the breeding pens.
A favorite among my late hatches are the Cowans. Since this
pair is the most recently acquired among my fowls, I am very keen on monitoring
their condition. There’s not many of them left after nature’s culling process,
so there’s one particular chick that I’m very fond of. Instinct tells me that
he’s going to make a fine broodcock one day.
As I was admiring this little creature one morning, a hawk swooped out
of nowhere and snatched this precious chick away. I could only helplessly look
and gnash my teeth in anguish. My future broodcock, F1 of my imported pair, has
literally flown away never to return. Who’s next? I contemplate as I look at
the chicks left roaming the range. Will it be my Ray Alexander Lacy’s or my
Radios? No one knows. I do not know when that hawk will come swooping down
again. What I’m certain of is that it will come back once it grows hungry
again.
I guess this is the bad side of the natural method.
Predators are always on the lookout for careless hens with sumptuous chicks in
tow. But I suppose this is part and parcel of my breeding method of hen-
hatching and hen–brooding. I have to accept that in all breeding methods, there
is always a downside. Nothing else can be done except to start over again.
