I had a dry erase-o (typo but not typed?…written in dry erase marker) on the actual day of the 16th, jumping ahead a date, so the first date labeled the 17th is the 16th… and I suspected I had made a mistake when I wrote the dates for the actual 17th but had already erased the previous day’s label… which is why I added the Monday to the label, just in case. We also had bad news in this update, we will get to that later. Here’s April 16th, 17th and 18th, with a few pictures of the woods around the place to go with them. I also found an egg in a location I hardly remember to check on the 16th after I already took the basket picture, so I ended up with two basket pics on that day.
And here are the 19th, 20th, and 21st. This includes the bad news: I came home from a late shift at work on the 19th, and counted chickens on my way down to the house. One of the gals (I thought it was Sunnyside from a quick glance, but I was using my cell phone for a light) seemed to be roosting on the floor, which was odd. I thought maybe she had been knocked down during some overly zealous fighting over who was sleeping where, and was so sleepy she just stayed there, so I picked her up with one hand under her belly, and set her down on a perch. She seemed a bit dopey, but then again, it was night and they were all asleep so that seemed normal.
Next morning, I went out really early, opened the coop doors up and moved their food, to the run, and went back to bed for a bit. Later in the day, the flock was out and about, scattered in the woods edge, and seemed normal. However, when I got to doing the Egg-A-Day, I found Tandori just laying on the coop floor, dead. I checked for obvious injuries, saw none, and then cremated her. Sorry folks… now is when I’m sure we’ll hear the “I told you not to eat the General, he was her guardian!!!” but we had too many roosters, and he was kinda a jerk to the ladies, and had poor genetics for his comb (way to susceptible to the cold), and was too small… So, we mourn the loss of the prophecized and great, the gracer of the flock, etc. Tandori. Maybe if we all are really lucky, she will be rehatched? The silver linings here are that I was considering not having a brood this year, as we are getting more eggs than I can eat anyway, and I HATE having roosters hatch because I eventually gotta …well you know (*shudders*). But with the flock down to 17, I think we have room for a few more. Plus, hey, maybe Tandori will be hatched again…. I mean, maybe you can have her reincarnated… (although I shouldn’t say anything using the term of “reincarnated leftovers” or anything like that or I will be shunned for squawkphamy). Anyway, here are the pictures (spoiler, there is one of Tandori posthumously for those of you who need to see it to believe it, and to grieve properly) .
Here comes April 21 and 22. The flock seems healthy, although I had a panic attack today doing the Egg-A-Day (on the 22nd), because I miscounted who was all in the coop, came up one short because I didn’t see Pixie behind someone, then thought I couldn’t find J Frost, went out and scattered a bunch of scratch and hoped she would come in from a hidden roost in the woods, and didn’t see her come in, when some birds came out of the coop… went back in to the coop, and duh, there she was on a corner roost spot, and derp also, my problem was Pixie was tucked down behind Fearless, so she was the same color and hard to spot in the other corner… so hey, all 17 were alive and looking at me like I’m nuts (then again, that’s usually how they look at me).
Well, thanks for taking a peep at us!
FixedByDoc 