Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Tub


My husband, bless his heart, loves me very much. (You know we southerners can say anything we want as long as we preface it with "Bless your heart"! ;-)

Currently we have 26 black sex link chicks in our bathtub. What does that have to do with my husband loving me? Well, the truth is, even though my husband is a third generation farmer, he really does not care to have critters in the house. I remember the first time I brought birds in the house he was not very happy about it. Now, he just kind of looks the other way and knows I'm gonna do it. When they start stinking too terribly bad, he will start complaining, and I will take them out to their chicken house. I just hate to take them out until I know that they have a good start in doors where it is warm and free from drafts!

The tub is a real luxury but the truth is we hardly ever use it. It takes so much hot water to fill it up and I find when I do get in it, that I promptly fall asleep. I have raised a litter of orphaned pups in that tub and raised more peeps than I care to remember. So far, I have not had a baby calf or goat kid in the tub, but I'm sure sooner or later it will happen. Not the use my husband intended for that big tub when he installed it, I'm sure, but I must say it's the perfect place to give baby birds and animals a good start in life!

Note: Black sex links are a cross between a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster and a Barred Rock hen. The Black Rock, is another name for a black sex-link.
Sex-links are cross-bred chickens whose color at hatching is differentiated by sex, thus making chick sexing an easier process. (Wikepedia)