The Tale of Bruno

Bruno is a chick. He was hatched last Thursday. We actually don’t know if it’s a boy or not, but I’m going to refer to him as a ‘him’ for the sake of this story.

This story is true.

We didn’t even expect to get chicks from the batch of eggs that Red has been setting on. We figured our roosters were all too young to inseminate our older hens. We tried to take the eggs away, only to discover one was peeping.

Over the course of two weeks, nine eggs have hatched. Almost all of the chicks were typical yellow birds. One was brown. And the last one to hatch was a tiny little, nearly black chick. This last chick is Bruno.

Friday evening when I got home, I noticed a little grey fuzzy lump in the driveway. I assumed it was a dead mole or vole, but when I got closer, I recognized the little chick.

I yelped for the poor thing just laying there. I picked up its seemingly lifeless body preparing myself to dig a hole and solemnly bury the little guy. But as I picked him up, he flinched. His eye moved.

That was my call to action.

I picked him up and rushed him inside. It was a chilly night, so I held him close to keep him warm. I gave him some water by dripping water of my finger tip onto his beak.

He had an injury on the right side of his head. Some other bird must have pecked at him while he laid there in the driveway.

I set him up with an enclosure, food, water, a stuffed animal, and a little light for warmth. Within a couple of hours he was up, peeping, and eating. He helped me with my evening writing tasks.

He was pretty exhausted, though, and finally went to sleep on my belly.

The next morning (Saturday), Bruno was awake and active in his little cage. I took him back to the outdoor enclosure that houses his momma and eight siblings. I stuck him back in there and old Red hen took him right back.

Today he’s looking much better. There’s no obvious sign of his injury and he’s getting on fine with the rest of the chicks. He still is the smallest, but he’s growing and doing well.

We don’t know how he got out of the enclosure in the first place. We assume that because he was so tiny that maybe he managed to slip through a gap in the chicken wire.

I’m just glad he’s doing well and can’t wait to see what he looks like when he gets older.