One Step Forward…

For every one step forward, there seems to be a step or two back.

I am so happy that we now have the girls (MaryAnn & Ginger).  However, the three eggs that I was hoping to incubate via a willing Mama Chicken were a bust.  Two were rotten and, wow, smelled incredibly bad.  The third egg contained a chick.  The Reno Kid and I could hear the faint peeping coming from beneath Mama Chicken.  We chose to let nature do her thing – and she did.  The tiny bird was not strong enough to break through the shell and died partially exposed to the world.  Maybe it suffocated, maybe it was too weak to live, I just don’t know.  I know that to strengthen the American Barred Holland’s numbers, I need to hatch as many chicks as possible.  I walk a thin line, trying to make sure that the pairings of rooster versus hens create the greatest potential when it comes to the prospective chicks.  After considering the parents, I try to give each baby the chance to realize the standard that we judge poultry breeds against.  Any bird that doesn’t measure up doesn’t go into the breeding pool.  Simple as that.  I don’t know if this chick would have been a great addition to the flock or not.  By not making it out of the shell on its own, however, I believe natural selection made the call that he/she wouldn’t have been a good contribution to the Holland breed.  Keith and I are both of the feeling that we should interfere as little as possible when it comes to these kinds of things.  We wouldn’t let an animal suffer, but we wouldn’t prolong a life that isn’t meant to be, either.  Older birds that are found to miss the mark are found homes or become part of our laying flock, providing entertainment and eggs for our family.  We do not lethally cull unless there is a behavioral  issue that cannot be corrected (like roosters that chase kids and dogs).  Even then, we eat the animals that we can or humanely dispose of the carcasses.

Whew.  That was a longer than anticipated paragraph.  I thought it was important to spell out where we stand.  As I attend more gatherings, talk about my birds and publicize the Holland gathering I am hosting, I repeatedly run into some of these questions.  Most folks are curious at the idea of an endangered chicken.  (Hey, there are plenty in the freezer section!)  Others wonder how saving a breed of an animal that is used for food can be reconciled.  There was a great comment made at the Seed Savers campout I attended a couple of years ago.  They raise White Park Cattle, an extremely rare breed of bovine that dates back to the age of the druids(!).  We feasted on Park Cattle kebab at one of the meals and this question came up.  The answer was simple.  You have to eat it to save it.  Only by eating an animal designed to be eaten can you share the qualities that make that animal so desirable.  I could talk all day long about the Industrial Revolution and the downfall of “backyard” breeds.  By harvesting the animals that are perfectly healthy, but don’t conform to the “ideal”, we can strengthen the remaining gene pool and also take the opportunity to expose new audiences to some amazing varieties of protein that most haven’t heard of – let alone tasted.

Which brings me back to the dead chick.  I carefully carried the chick and egg that still encased the tiny body into the house to show Keith.  We both lamented the loss because I had extremely high hopes for these particular eggs.  Mama had been the surrogate for some eggs that I received last year and Olive, my pet and constant shadow, was the only survivor.  This year, I isolated Olive and gathered the three eggs from just her, placing the eggs beneath Mama when it was time.  I thought it charming that Mama would be hatching her own grand-chicks.  Olive is a really great example of where I want to go with the Hollands I have.  It’s back to the drawing board, though.  I have considered an incubator since Mama is the only chicken I still have who is interested in motherhood.  It feels wrong to take the hatching process out of the hands of the hens to me.  I am still on the fence.  In any case, I have moved one step forward, and many steps back.