Charms was a very special bird. As a baby he was dubbed as 'Hope'; Hope was the first one to hatch and i bonded very closely with Hope. I would fall asleep with her under my chin, talk to her softly, and spend all my time with this special little thing mixing herb water and entertaining her and her two siblings. Hope had quite a thing going on, she'd love to peck my eyeball...right in the middle.
When I had first put Hope in the brooder; she hatched a day earlier than her siblings. I left her for a bit, but I had a strong urge to go check on her. I followed that urge and got to her just in time to see a snake, yes a snake about to take her. It got scared when it saw me and it disappeared. That snake was never found. But just to make sure I kept Hope close to me that night. Luckily I checked on her when I did or I think her story would of ended much sooner than it did.
This precious thing had stolen my heart, its cute ways had blindfolded me! Although Hope had two Siblings im more than sure she would of loved being an only ‘child’.
This little evil ball of fluff would demand if she didn’t get something, ride on my shoulder, and poop right in the middle of snuggles.
At 3 days or so old she and her siblings took over the food dish, for a dust bath! It really was the cutest thing on the planet, and it still makes me smile seeing those 3 heads look up at me as if asking “What are you doing mommy?” well excuse me but your running your food my dears.
Hope was a strong independent chick, who would lead all the others into trouble. Im sure if such things could speak, she would have blamed each and every incident on her siblings. However, I was her weakness. Almost as if when she saw me, it was a whole new chick! If I so what as even put my hand in the brooder she would chase after it and snuggle it or try and tear it apart-either one.
It wasn’t long before I figured her and her siblings loved peas. I got my dose of laughter when I would hold a pea in the air in the brooder or even just hold it in, they went crazy for it! Hope would jump for peas, and she loved it when I opened up the peas to get the yummy stuff inside. Actually the craziness for peas is making me smile like mad just thinking about it.
The first outside visit of the world was pretty great. They were about 3 days old.
Hope was the one to walk up to Romeo (Bantam Rooster) and say “Hey IM the Boss!” Funny, Romeo was scared of the 3 DAY old chick! And was actually running away from her, he did have one eye. Sprinkles and Bambi were cowering under me at the sight of the rooster, so that just shows Hopes independence.
Time really did fly. I laughed a lot with these chicks, but soon they had duck friends. Big duckling friends, about 2 weeks old. I soon went away for a short amount of time-less than a week and left my feathering baby chicks, in the same brooder as the ducks. Because I felt that would be the safest thing to do; I wouldn’t have to leave two heat lamps on etc and the cat wouldn’t go for the chicks with the ducks around.
I was so excited to see my babys again and when I arrived home, they were the first thing I went to see!
A family member was looking after them, and of course they wanted momma love and , Don’t worry, me to the rescue. I gave the ducklings their bath, cleaned out the brooder, stocked everyone up on peas and told them how much I loved them. All fixed.
Except Sprinkles had a leg problem now, slipped tendon. The duck must of stepped on it, she was after all the runt.
Time really did fly now, and soon they were outside with the ducks and also the silkies who were just getting out of baby hood.
I couldn’t fix Sprinkles leg, I had tried everything. Just thinking about her makes me sad, so the focus is back on Hope.
Hope was the one to always escape, also the one to beg for forgiveness and run after me. That little rat.
By now they moved out into the big coop!
Actually now It was safe to call her a boy. But I kept her name Hope just to see if she turned out to be a boy for sure.
Hope was my best friend, she would ride on my shoulder whilst doing chores, and even if people say don’t treat cockerels like pets, I did. I don’t understand why you cant, Hope didn’t have a bad bone in his body.
He started becoming more independent as he got older, and would stray away from the coop with his brother Bambi (Now named Rofl) more often. Sprinkles leg got worse, so she got left behind. So her and me bonded very closely and she became a second 'Hope'.
Then Sprinkles died. It’s a long story, it really is, but all I can say is I miss that chook but shes in a better place.
Strangely Hope took the loss of his sister pretty hard, I could just tell. My heart hurt at the same time as his did, I think maybe he knew. He stayed in the coop with me for ages while I sat there thinking the loss of Sprinkles was all my fault.
Hope would just stand there, giving me a look that words cant describe.
And soon after her death i lost one of the ducklings who i raised with the chicks, so now it was two ducklings and two chicks. (When it used to be six all together)
Soon Hope became a teenager.
He was becoming a beautiful cockerel. So was Bambi.
I needed new names, for Bambi I played around with his name for a bit till I got Rofl. It was hard to find a new one for Hope, I thought of Ceaser, but then changed it to Charms. Self-explanatory.
After the loss of his sister in 2016 he had no one but Rofl and myself.
As for Rofl well hes going through a phase, the attack all humans phase. I had a rooster who went through the same phase but is now as sweet as a marshmallow.
As for Charms, he grew away from me of course but he never even thought about attacking me. As I said he never had a bad bone in his body. Sometimes I would sit down just thinking and he would be there, giving me that same look he did when I wept about Sprinkles.
He was pretty skittish, but he trusted me. His plumage was not as good as his brothers Rofl but he just was a darling so it made him way more beautiful. Unlike Rofl who im sure im on his to-kill list.
One thing that i found hilarious about Charms was he LOVED water. When everyone was in taking shelter from the bad rain Charms would be out standing in it playing around.
Today Charms died.
This one was seriously my fault.
A bit back I had noticed bloody poops, and I thought it was just intestinal lining shedding. However I noticed poor Charms sleeping A LOT more. It would be morning and he would just be lethargic. Or it would be day and he would just be sleeping under the car when everyone else was eating.
I stopped seeing the bloody poops, and I was too busy to think much of what Charms was doing.
This morning, he was sleeping when everyone was getting up for the morning.
If I treated him as soon as I noticed this lethargic behavior or even got to him this morning this beautiful bird may of still been with me.
He was found next to a water source, with his head down, comb dark purple and folded over, couldn’t walk, browny-yellow stuff dripping from his mouth and he was shaking. Screaming on the inside I rushed him to the isolation cage with a dark towel over it and rushed on BYC for advice- little did i know i couldn't save him now.
I checked on him about 7 mins later and he was dead. Just like that. He was hard so I guess he died as soon as I put him in the cage. I didn’t get to say goodbye, nothing, I could of helped him, now out of the chick photo only one is alive. And it’s a cockerel who wants to kill me basically.
Hope was just there for me, he'd give me my laughter dose remedy when i needed it most, But i couldn't repay him by saving his life...
I miss this bud, he was such a sweetheart. Now not only have I lost my favourite boy, I worry for the rest of my flock. Hes been with all the other birds, I don’t know what it was.
I’ve lost my Hope.
Hes gone.
RIP Charms
