Setting eggs today (3/30) anyone else??? - Page 8

We've had a busy week ending with 30 family and friends yesterday. It was great to see everyone and now I am tired.

Saturday two of our roosters had a big fight. DH saw the end of it when the smaller of the two backed down. Yesterday evening, after everyone left, I was gathering eggs and found the smaller roo in a nesting area sitting on eggs. The temp yesterday was 93 and it was hotter in the barn. When I got DH he finally told me about the fight and that he had seen the roo sitting in the same spot yesterday morning. From what we have pieced together he had been there all day, without water. He was unable to move his legs, he was panting and his heart was racing. When we lifted him he had a light discharge from his vent, not the normal poop, and it was all over his belly.

We got him into a lukewarm tub, gave him small sips of water with electrolytes, put Neosporin on his irritated skin. After about an hour and a half he had stopped panting, his heart rate was normal, he was finally moving, not very much and he still could not stand up. He didn't resist anything that we did to or for him. He has always been a good roo with us, a bit rough, mating with the ladies, but he is only 10 months old.

We put him in a cage with water so he would not get picked on. We finally left the barn just before 10pm.

This morning at 7, 7:30 and 9 he had moved very little and I had to force him to drink. At 10:30 he had his eyes closed and had one leg straight out, to the side, and he was no longer laying flat, he was rolled to his side and refused to drink. We had thunderstorms rolling through off and on all morning. At 12 noon when I went to make sure he drank something, he had died. Three hens laid next to the cage with him since the 9am check and they stayed to the end. We believe he had internal injuries from the fight on Saturday.. We buried him in the garden.

He is a Silver Laced Wyandotte and his name is Hi Ho Silver, because from the day he arrived he ran everywhere. When I was young there was a TV show called The Lone Ranger and his horse's name was Silver. The Lone Ranger always said, "Hi ho Silver, away!" and took off on his horse.

We have over a dozen of his chicks in the brooder, some with SLW hens, some mixed. He was a good rooster and so good to call the hens to food and make sure they ate first, watching while they ate, and calling out danger.

After preparing his body for burial, cleaning the cage and waterer. I came in and the phone rang. A friend that recently moved out of town called and ask if I would be home this afternoon. About an hour later he walked in the door with a box that had holes in the sides and top. Inside were 15 Rouen ducklings. They are so cute and best of all DH has been talking about ducks all spring. Every time he went to TSC this spring he tried to talk me into getting some ducklings.

When DH got home from work we had a sad time burying Silver and then sat in our basement and cried holding ducklings. An emotional day. to    and back to .

Sorry to be so long winded.

We will miss you, Silver.

Yay for fuzzy butts!!

It will be difficult to send the fuzzy butts to your grandparents. How often will you see them? You get to see your grandparents and know that they will be well taken care of even as you miss them. I'm sad with you.

The ducklings are so cute and fun to watch. Different than the chicks though. They love the water. We have had to change the brooder box to a larger blocked off area of a room in the basement. They go through about a gallon of water a day. No, they don't drink it all, they dip their beaks and shake their head and it flies everywhere. They have so much fun, although they seem to take it very seriously. DH is racking his brain to figure out how quickly we can get them to the barn. They have a much more potent odor to their poop. I'm very used to the chicken poop, and except for the cecal droppings, I don't really smell it too much. The room that we have the duck in will have to be steam cleaned, floor, walls ceiling, everything. And we are going through every old rug, rag and rolls of paper towels. Good thing they are cute.

Our flock is very different without Silver. I can't believe how one rooster can change the dynamics of the group.The roosters aren't fighting as much. The hens are quieter. It is odd. We miss hearing him crow and seeing him in the yard and barn.

Hope that you have a great visit with your Nana and Papa. Store up memories that you will remember all of your life.

Yay for fuzzy butts!

Lots of activity this week getting the garden in and doing our best to keep the chickens out of the newly planted seed and plants. It is really an impossible dream. They love to dust bathe in the newly turned soil, making DH's perfectly straight rows more zig-zag. He is not happy. I have replanted flowers three times. We finally have a six foot fence around them until they are established. Why do they always go for the biggest, most unusual colors? We do appreciate all the supervision they provide, bawking, low moans, letting us know we are not doing it right. They are the experts!

Last weekend we had family from Florida stay with us, this weekend we are alone, trying to get the last plants in the ground. DH usually continues to purchase plants until there is nothing left in the garden centers. We are supposed to have rain tomorrow, which we need very badly. We are thankful for the moisture God sends as our water costs are ridiculously high.

How was your week with your grandparents? We hope to have one of our granddaughters come for a week this summer. Soon, she will be working and too busy to come for that long. We have to make the time now.

Our BO mama still walks around the fenced run where her chicks, now teenagers, spend their day. She will nip at one that gets to close to the fence sometimes, but most of the time she and the SS mama just ignore them. They are not the small little chicks they once were.

Got to go refresh the water for the birds, temps close to ninety today.

I need to take pictures to share.

Yay for fuzzy butts!!

hope you all had a good hatch