Today was a sad day for the chickens. They lost one of their own. It was quite a surprise for all of us. We were out in the yard with all 4 of them in the morning. We went in for snack and circle time from 9:30-10:30. When we were back out in the yard after that, one of the chickens was making a lot of noise by the fence, and was clearly upset. At first, when Mr. Lyman went to check it out, he found a flurry of feathers and knew if wasn't good. Then, he found the poor dead chicken, right by the fence. The chicken friend carried on for quite awhile, and the other 2 chickens were nowhere to be seen. We looked and looked for them, everywhere the kids suggested: in the toddler area, in their coop, in the compost pile. But, we couldn't find them. We developed theories about what happened. Who did this? Some ideas: a bear, a wolf, a coyote, a fox, a shark, a hawk. Where were the others? Did they get carried off? Did they escape the fence and run away?
Then, someone suggested the bush in the far corner of the yard. We looked, and the 2 other chickens were tucked in the bush, hiding. Poor things were probably terrified, but they were alive and well!
Although it was a traumatic event for our chickens, the kids did not seem very shaken by this event. They looked at the dead chicken (which we carefully put on the other side of the fence, so there was no danger of anyone touching it), and were very engaged in solving the mystery of it. Some of them were concerned about the other chickens, and wanted to comfort them. One kid jokingly asked if a coyote would eat them. No one was very distraught by it all, though. It was amazing to all of us that a fox or coyote would sneak into the yard and take a big bite out of one of our chickens right in the middle of our day.
Here's a video of the brave chicken who stood by her friend, making a fuss. She wouldn't leave the dead chicken's side, as she paced and clucked.
And here is a video of our discovery of the other 2 chickens, who were alive after all.
Oh, that's so sad and mysterious. I know that you all would be available to and encouraging to any of the children who wanted to talk about what happened. Thanks so much for that.
ReplyDelete--Lori
Yes, we talked about it for most of the morning. We should check in with them throughout the week to see if there are some who are still upset by it.
ReplyDelete