As those who follow our Facebook page already know, I discovered yesterday that someone has been stealing my broiler chicks. I know this is the case rather than them escaping or getting eaten by predators, because when I went to check on them yesterday, I saw a clothes basket or plastic trash can that I didn’t recognize inside their house, and there was a bit of bedding in the bottom of it. There were only 14 chicks left out of the 45 there should have been. Apparently, someone had been taking them out a few at a time in this basket, and they ran away suddenly when they heard me coming.
This morning, after I dropped Noah off at school, I let the hens out and checked on the remaining chicks. They were fine. I opened my greenhouse to ventilate it and left to go buy a hasp and padlock for the shed the chicks were in.
When I came back this evening to install the hasp, the rest of the chicks were gone…and the concrete block that I prop against the door was still there holding it shut.
After I finished putting on the hasp, I considered putting one on the greenhouse, too. I decided against it, but shut the door.
I went in the house for something, and when I came back out, I saw two young men walking toward the pond behind the greenhouse. I yelled at them to stop and asked what they were doing there. One of them handed me a broken pocket knife that had been inside my greenhouse. That told me they had opened up the door of the greenhouse, walked in, and stolen the knife. My cell phone battery had just died while I was in the house, and I wasn’t going to ask to borrow a cell phone from one of them to call the police, so I marched them over to my neighbor’s house and asked her to call the police.
While we were waiting, one of them said, “I’m not going back to jail,” and he walked up the street. I remembered the saying, “He who chases two rabbits will lose them both,” so I just put my hand on the shoulder of the one who was still there, figuring he could tell the police where to find the other guy. He seemed to be the more honest and cooperative of the two, so I hope he does.
I don’t know that these guys are the ones who took my chicks. In fact, I think it’s improbable. But I’m glad I caught somebody today. Maybe word will get out that I catch thieves and prosecute them.
