Using a black permanent marker, Shane marked five eggs with a small ‘x’ and then carefully placed them under a broody, mother hen. On the calendar he counted out 21 days for the incubations period and wrote down the due date for the chicks to hatch on Sunday, March 10. Everyday he went out to the hen house, collected all the unmarked eggs and checked on mama hen where she faithfully sat warming her little treasures. Meanwhile, Dad cleaned up an unused rabbit hutch where he could move the mother hen away from the other chickens so they would not harm the baby chicks after they hatched. At the age of nine, Shane’s fascination with raising and hatching chickens were at its peak and he eagerly awaited and carefully watched over the precious nestlings.
The morning they were due to hatch, Shane, along with his two sisters, restlessly checked on them every opportunity they got, hoping that at least a couple of them would hatch. They fretted and worried about getting the chicks moved to safety from the other chickens as soon as they were hatched; so they kept a close eye on those eggs. But by Sunday evening nothing had yet happened. “Well, sometimes they are a little late hatching,” reasoned Shane.
Monday morning, the kids rose up early, while I was still sleeping, and ran out to check on the eggs. There was still no sign of them hatching. A little concerned, they decided to go ahead and move mamma hen and her eggs into the rabbit hutch. They carefully lifted her from the nesting box and carried the precious eggs to their new home. But an unexpected problem arose. Mamma hen would not sit back on the eggs. The children tried coaxing her in every way they could think of, but she just paced back and forth inside the hutch looking for a way out. It was a very chilly morning and those eggs needed to be kept warm or the babies would die. Our next door neighbor, Mrs. Busby, saw the distress of situation and advised the children to leave mama hen alone and then she would calm down and go sit on the eggs again. Reluctantly, we all went into the house, anxious yet hopeful. A couple hours later, we went out to see if she was sitting on them and found her still pacing and the eggs ice cold. By now we were all distraught over the unborn baby chicks. I told the kids to put mama hen and her eggs back into the nesting box, but Mrs. Busby, upon feeling how cold the eggs were, said they were probably no good. We were so disheartened and the kids felt so bad about it all. I decided to take them into the house and try to warm them. Mrs. Busby said I could try but that she thought they were way too cold. I brought them in the house and placed them between two towels on a plate and put them in the oven on warm. It looked doubtful . . . but we could pray!
I got out a story I had read to the kids many times. It was a true story about some children that had rabbits. One night, during a freeze, they forgot to lock the rabbit cage and all the rabbits got out of the cage. The next morning the children found them all lying around the yard frozen stiff. The children gathered up the rabbits and brought them into the house whereupon the mother and children prayed that God would revive them, and sure enough, God honored their faith and raised them back to life. I read the familiar story once again to my children and then told them that God is able to save these little chicks. We all knelt down to pray, Felecia, my 10 year old daughter, leading out.
It took awhile for the eggs to get warm enough to take back out to the mama hen. Moisture condensed on the outside of the shells. It didn’t look good. But we knew in our hearts that God was able to save the chicks, if it was his will. We tenderly placed the eggs back into the nesting box and the mama chicken went and sat on them. All Monday the children anxiously waited to see what would happen. By evening, there were no signs of life, and knowing they were already overdue, we thought that it was probably too late.
Tuesday morning Shane got up bright and early and went out to check on them. A few minutes later he came flying through the door, eyes as wide open as ever, “MOM! MOM! I HEARD PEEPING!” “Are you sure?” I asked, as we all scrambled into our rain boots and dashed out to see. We gathered in the hen house and quietly listened. Ever so faintly we could hear the peeping. Shane lifted up the mother hen and one of the eggs was just beginning to hatch. Later that afternoon, two little chicks had hatched and another egg was cracking. Dad carefully nailed some screening around the box so that they wouldn’t fall out.
Wednesday morning we had three chickens in all and there was a hole in another egg. We wondered if it was still good so we took it out and upon examination could see a little life moving around. We hoped it was strong enough to hatch completely out and placed it back under mama. Thursday morning we went out joyfully to move our new little flock into the rabbit hutch. Shane checked on that other egg and, sure enough, there was a new little chick.
“Four out of five eggs!” I exclaimed, “God really blessed.” We put the four little chickadees into the basket and I headed over to their new home while Shane picked up mama hen. Suddenly he came running towards me just as excited as he had been the morning when he first heard the peeping. “MOM! MOM! There’s another chick in there!” “Are you sure?” I asked in amazement. “Yeah, I picked up mama hen and there it was underneath her!”
ALL FIVE OF THOSE EGGS HATCHED! PRAISE GOD!
“With God, all things are possible”! (Matt 19:26)
1 comment:
I truly beleive that 90% of our lives, memories, personalities and faith are fostered and nurtured at home. It's not the 'big trip' to Disneyland that we remember years down the road...it's all the little moments spent in the living room together that compile our memories and warm our hearts. How very very precious that those moments are spent on your knees, carrying a burden together to the Lord! What a warm and cozy home, with the blessings of the Lord! Thank you for sharing the story!
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