The Weekend That The Chicks Came To Stay!

Each year James' school have eggs in school which they then hatch into chicks and care for over a few weeks. Of course the chicks can't be left alone in school for the weekend though and after putting our name forward to care for them, last week I got the email to say James' name had been picked from the hat! We were getting the chicks to stay for the weekend!! 

Im not sure if I was more excited of worried, excited for these tiny fluffy baby chicks to be staying with us or nervous about keeping the schools precious chicks alive over an entire weekend. When we came to pick them up we were informed that one baby chick had in fact only been born that very day, it was so tiny and not even fluffy yet. 

Loading them into the car after school on Friday was like bringing home a newborn… I drove about 5 miles an hour the whole way home, heat lamp blaring and chirps coming from the boot. 

We set them up on the table with fresh water, food and the heat lamp on and the kids and I happily sat and watching them hopping around the cage chirping all afternoon. These chicks are just so fluffy and super friendly, they will quite happily hop onto your hand and stay to be cuddled which of course the kids loved! 

One thing that shocked us all though was just how quickly chicks grow. The tiny baby that was born Friday afternoon, who looked wet with hardly any "fluff" was completely fluffy by the following day and looked a little bigger too (although I think that was probably all the fluff!). It was also lovely seeing all of their little personalities, the kids named one of the chicks "pecky Patricia" because she would come up to the cage and peck through the bars if you ever sat near it.

After spending the best part of last week stressing and worrying about looking after the school chicks (and keeping them alive lol!) from the moment our name for picked from the hat, I think we are all going to be super sad for them to go back to school now. 

We have all spent most of the weekend happily just staring into their cage and grabbing the odd cuddle here and there, listening to their little cheeps and chirping and cooing over how cute they all are. I just wish we had a big enough garden to have some of our own so we could watch then grow up completely rather than just for a few short days ... maybe one day!! 

Have you or your children ever been responsible for looking after a school or nursery pet? 

xXx