are you my mother?

There was a book I often read as a kid where a baby bird gets separated from his mother (pre-hatch) and tries to find his identity in a cat, a dog, a bulldozer... It ends happily enough, but my point is that birds do have this little built in mechanism to identify with the first "other" that they see and who nurtures them. This is called imprinting (I am not an animoligist, so consider the source). There was a big debate between myself and brave chicken farmer jr. as to who the chickens would bond with. He decided that we would simultaneously open the box and they would magically love and identify with both of us. Now the magic was cast upon us and we were instantly smitten by these little fluffy, noisy critters. They do allow us to hold them -I think they are humouring, if not pitying, us. One did do some nasty business on BCF jr, but I don't think that spells L-O-V-E. "The girls" do seem rather attracted to the digital thermometer in their brooder (plastic box house). They stand around it in packs as if in awe and occasionally peck at it. It reminds me of 2001; A Space Odessy - the large black monolith looming above the creatures - an ominous god of sorts. So I'm really hoping that these chickens will be able to predict the weather with great accuracy. Fresh eggs and a true weather report - what more could you ask for?