Cheryl's Hen House...

[aart]

Hear, hear! Lovely pics!

 

[TerryH]

Hear, hear!  Lovely pics!

Thank you. It was a beautiful evening here and very, very nice to enjoy all my girls hanging out with me.

 

[mike6530]

Everyone looks beautiful Terry. Especially Cheryl! lol Glad everyone is healthy and doing well!
I have a question about your watering system. You talked about heating your bucket and I saw where you added a float. Are you running a water line to the bucket and if so, how will you keep the line from freezing?

 

[TerryH]

Everyone looks beautiful Terry. Especially Cheryl! lol Glad everyone is healthy and doing well!
I have a question about your watering system. You talked about heating your bucket and I saw where you added a float. Are you running a water line to the bucket and if so, how will you keep the line from freezing?

Thanks Mike. I did add the floats but I never actually ran the line out there. Was planning on using it only when it was above freezing but never used it at all.

 

[TerryH]

Bittersweet last few days for Cheryl and I. Dr. Clark had warned us that effects of the Aspergillus exposure might not show up for weeks or months in the remaining birds. And if and when it did it would likely be neurological and ugly. That came horribly true this week. Shirley was unable to walk yesterday. No real control of her legs or wings. I had no choice but to euthanize her. Ethyl shows signs of the same thing but not nearly as bad yet so I'm just in a wait and see with her but I have little hope. The other 4 still seem fine at this point. Dr. Clark will be doing necropsy but feels strongly that it is Cerebral Aspergillosis. Basically the fungus growing in their brains.

Now for the good part. I knew that one of them had been in the nests yesterday. I'm assuming it's Laverne. She has the most comb and waddle development and has been singing for several days. Whomever it was had kicked out the fake egg and most of the pine shavings from one of the nests. I came home tonight to our first egg!! I left it for Cheryl. After I went to all the trouble of building sliding nest boxes so she could very easily gather eggs, she just crawls under the poop tray and grabs it still in her dress from work.

 

[Finnie]

The first egg!! That's so awesome!

How does it feel? I remember my first egg....

That's actually a pretty nice size, too, for a first one. Are you going to blow it out and preserve it?

 

[TerryH]

The first egg!!  That's so awesome!     How does it feel?  I remember my first egg....

That's actually a pretty nice size, too, for a first one.  Are you going to blow it out and preserve it?

It does feel good. That smile on Cheryl's face is worth everything to me. She called my Mom as soon as we got in the house to share the news with her. It was pretty cool. Not sure what we are going to do with it but knowing Cheryl I'd say it's going to made into something yummy.

 

[aart]

Ah...... the balance of life and death......bittersweet.

 

[TerryH]

Ah...... the balance of life and death......bittersweet.

Yes. Such happiness in the midst of grief. Such an interesting dichotomy.

 

[aart]

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