well, got a little bit of good news... kinda funny actually.
I mentioned on wed that i'd lost my 2 roos... well, they're gone. unless they can walk around without a tail/preen gland, or one wing... not too likely.
and the girl that left behind a pile of feathers, she's gone too, for sure. but the incompletely laced cochin I was missing (since Monday), I never did find much evidence of anything. just a few feathers here and there, which could have been attributed to moulting as much as anything else...
the last few days it's been raining intermittently so I haven't done much outside, but today was nice, so I got some more done on my next 2 pens, which I hope to put into service ASAP for my crowded red/mottled/laced/partridge group. anyways, I kept hearing someone pecking on a plastic *something*... tap tap tap. i'd look around and see nothing. start back on the pen and 'tap tap tap'...
finally i'd had enough. it was driving me. so I sent the dog to 'go get em'. not that he will, but he'll find the noisemaker and make them stop usually. well, he ran around the truck and came back to me. 'tap tap tap'. Sunny! go get it! find it! by now i'm more curious than annoyed.
side note... my standard poodle has also become a self-taught tracker too, when I shot my first deer last week (crossbow) and she took off down into the woods. so now 'go find it' is part of his vocabulary. LOL
so he starts coursing around the yard, trying to find whatever 'it' is... even he's not sure, but he's trying. I'm following along, watching him to see what he's doing, and I heard it again. right next to me!
on the ground next to where I'm standing is an old pallet with some tractor parts on it, a couple bags of sand, and an old leaky bucket that's been standing upside down for months. Hubby uses it to carry tools around mostly. a few other odds and ends and my 'swap' cages.
well, as i'm looking around, I hear the tapping again. this time I noticed something poking out of one of the bucket's small holes. no idea what it might be, i tell Sunny to wait there, go get my net and get ready to catch whatever it might be. (i'm thinking possum or squirrel or something.) i get the dog ready to 'get' whatever comes running out in case i miss it with my net, and flip the bucket over!.
and she just stands there looking pitiful. my incompletely laced girl that's been missing since Monday! it'd been raining so apparently she's been drinking water thru the holes in the bucket as it pooled on top, and from the amount of dirt on her beak, has also been snacking on worms and such. so I went straight to one of the pens and put her in with my mottled bunch (smallest group) and she proceeded to gobble up as much food as she could hold, then drank half a bucket of water before heading to the roost...
so i'm back UP to having 3 girls for my silver laced project, if i ever get another roo. the 2 incompletely laced girls may not have good lacing, but they do have good type, which is why I kept them... now i'm just missing the other half of the project.
