Hello, my name is Gertrude McCluck and welcome to Gerny Acres. You picked a wonderful time to visit. On such a pleasant spring day, with grass shoots coming up, and the stream gurgling merrily on its way through the farm. But Chicker is expecting chicks soon, and sometimes things can get a little crazy then. How? Oh, I can remember last year like it was yesterday.

I was expecting a great day. So great that it seemed unreal for me to be worried, but Chicker's eggs were supposed to hatch a week ago. When I passed the feeder that morning, it was total chaos. All the birds that had come for breakfast were huddled around the feeder, fidgeting and talking frantically. I leaned forward and heard a Rhode Island Red say, "Poor thing, how could a banty like herself keep all six of those eggs warm? Those were the biggest chicken eggs I've ever seen!"

I stood up high to see over the sea of heads, and there she was. Chicker (a brown and white banty with a black tail and a reputation for being an overprotective mom) was pacing in front of the feeder.

"What happened?" Chicker wailed, "I've hatched chicks before, I did everything I should have. I found them abandoned, all alone; I took them in and took care of them as if they were my own! What happened?!"

A couple of pullets raced out of the crowd to the feeder and got pecked smartly on the head by Chicker. Since I'm Chicken in Charge, I had to do something about it. I worked my way through the crowd and cautiously approached Chicker, putting my wing over her shoulder, I said, "Now, now, Chicker, it's okay. The eggs are only a little bit late, they'll hatch soon."

Chicker knew it wasn't true as much as I did, and cried, "It's been an extra week, and they are never going to hatch!" With that she turned and left toward the nest boxes, but once everyone was getting settled with breakfast, we heard a scream.

Chicker backed out of the nest box area and tripped, landing on her back, muttering something incomprehensible. I hurried over to take a look before the crowd got thick, and saw, to my surprise, five black chicks.

The next week went by well except for the fact that Chicker would scream at you if you came too close. Finally, after a hectic day in which Chicker picked a fight with a Barred Rock rooster, I went to be, glad that I wouldn't have to deal with Chicker until I woke up again.

Unfortunately, morning came too soon. The next day I woke up to cries of, "What do I do? What do I do?" and unfortunately, knew that Chicker was upset again. I hurried to the stream to find Chicker jumping around and flapping her wings as she paced frantically by the stream where her chicks had just fallen in.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! You'll drown! What do I do? You'll drown! Help!" screamed Chicker.

I looked down at the chicks splashing around and decided to break it to her. "They're not chicks," I tried to say so Chicker could hear, "they are ducklings!"