We had what we thought was a tragedy here Tuesday, and Anne and I were so upset that I could not write about it here until this morning.
Tuesday the silkie's chick got out of its section of the run and totally disappeared. We looked everywhere for it but couldn't find it. The blue silkie hen, Victoria, was going crackers. The next day Victoria was still very upset so we called the friend, Greg (BYC member) whom we'd given Victoria's black sister and a meaner'n-a-snake rooster and asked to borrow them so that we could put them back with Victoria to keep her company. Greg brought them over, and we put them with Victoria; that calmed her down a lot.
Two days later, late Thursday evening, we were returning from my sister's house and parked in front of the house in the dark. Guess what was sitting beside the front door. Yep, the little splash chick, all huddled up, cold, hungry, and looking like it'd been through hell and half of Georgia. We could not believe our eyes, and that's putting it mildly. We immediately took it to Victoria so that she could care for it.
We checked early the next morning and saw the black hen occasionally lightly pecking the chick on the head. We let it go for the day thinking they'd become settled in together after a while. I realize by the next morning that that was never going to work out. The chick looked worse than ever, wasn't eating, and was terrified. I was afraid it was going to die from starvation and/or stress.
We removed the black hen and "rooster from hell" (I was ready to kill him because of his attacks!) and put them in a large dog cage in the garage. I called Greg yesterday and told him that I'd probably be bringing them back to him this weekend, but that I wanted to wait to be sure the chick lived; otherwise, I'd wanted to continue borrowing them until I could get a new hen friend for Victoria. I noticed that Victoria was acting broody yesterday. That was all the chick would need, a comatose-acting mother.
This morning Victoria is not acting upset or broody; the chick is eating and running around acting like nothing ever happened.
I'm going to return Greg's hen and rooster (still living) today.
Today's a good day.
All's well that ends well!
Tuesday the silkie's chick got out of its section of the run and totally disappeared. We looked everywhere for it but couldn't find it. The blue silkie hen, Victoria, was going crackers. The next day Victoria was still very upset so we called the friend, Greg (BYC member) whom we'd given Victoria's black sister and a meaner'n-a-snake rooster and asked to borrow them so that we could put them back with Victoria to keep her company. Greg brought them over, and we put them with Victoria; that calmed her down a lot.
Two days later, late Thursday evening, we were returning from my sister's house and parked in front of the house in the dark. Guess what was sitting beside the front door. Yep, the little splash chick, all huddled up, cold, hungry, and looking like it'd been through hell and half of Georgia. We could not believe our eyes, and that's putting it mildly. We immediately took it to Victoria so that she could care for it.
We checked early the next morning and saw the black hen occasionally lightly pecking the chick on the head. We let it go for the day thinking they'd become settled in together after a while. I realize by the next morning that that was never going to work out. The chick looked worse than ever, wasn't eating, and was terrified. I was afraid it was going to die from starvation and/or stress.
We removed the black hen and "rooster from hell" (I was ready to kill him because of his attacks!) and put them in a large dog cage in the garage. I called Greg yesterday and told him that I'd probably be bringing them back to him this weekend, but that I wanted to wait to be sure the chick lived; otherwise, I'd wanted to continue borrowing them until I could get a new hen friend for Victoria. I noticed that Victoria was acting broody yesterday. That was all the chick would need, a comatose-acting mother.
This morning Victoria is not acting upset or broody; the chick is eating and running around acting like nothing ever happened.
I'm going to return Greg's hen and rooster (still living) today.
Today's a good day.
All's well that ends well!
