Life, Death, and Rainbows

Yesterday was busy and odd. We got up extra early to take two car loads of stuff to "The Worlds Largest Yard Sale". We were up before 5am. All the animals were fed, chicks checked on, incubators checked. We were out the door at 6am. We spent all day at the sale.

We did very well, and got rid of a bunch of stuff. Our basement is much more tidy now. I left the sale after 4pm and was home by 5pm.

Hoover was very happy to see me. I made a salad for Kirby. I checked the incubators and decided the chicken eggs that were going to hatch had hatched and turned off the incubator so it could cool down and I could clean it.

When I checked the incubator an hour later the temp was 71 degrees and shockingly I could hear a chick peeping. I quickly opened the incubator and tried to find the egg that was alive. I found it and peeled away most of the shell turned the incubator back on and put the chick in. I didn't really think the poor little thing could possibly survive after getting so chilled.

Then I went down to the barn to put everyone in for the night. I was not prepared to find Splish, one of my favorite hens dead in the goat stall. Splish was the only Blue Splash Maran hen in the flock and I had hoped to hatch some of her eggs to add more to the flock. On the bench in the goat stall there was an egg that didn't have a hard shell. Imagine an egg with only the membrane. It is not unusual to occasionally get an egg like that and it doesn't mean a hen is sick. It is just something that happens. I have no idea why Splish died.

While I was going about the barn getting everyone in, the sky darkened and a thunder storm started. Within minutes the sun came out while it was still pouring. I went out, got soaking wet and saw a rainbow. It was late just an hour before sunset and I could see the full rainbow. I managed to catch the rainbow with a flash of lightning. I have never been able to walk away from a rainbow, I stay until it disappears.


So, I'm walking around the barn soaking wet. It felt like my clothes weighed 50 pounds. I'm torn between the sadness of losing Splish and the beauty of the rainbow. I went in to collect the eggs and I found a tiny blue egg. This egg was even smaller than the tiny white egg I found before. Have you ever heard that things come in threes? I was thinking the little chick in the incubator, Splish dying, and the rainbow was three. Then there was the tiny egg and when I went to write the egg count on the calender I saw that there was going to be a full moon. It was all just too odd.



I was so exhausted, and still soaking wet. I dragged my wet butt back to the house. When I checked the incubator the little chick was still alive.

I fell into bed.

When I woke up this morning the little chick was moving around the incubator. I have moved her (oh, I hope it is a girl) to the brooder with the other chicks. She is still doing well and we have named her Coolio.