KarenS, it sounds like you have a teenage rooster, they get rowdy at that age. My young BC Marans is in that stage now & I see him chasing all the hens around the yard. I really need to get my breeder coop done so I can shut up some of mine, my poor hens have some really bare backs, it's pitiful.
We just got home tonight about 7:45 & I went immediately & started checking animals & birds, I didn't even help my DH unload the car & he knew better than to say anything about it. Some of my rabbits had no water, especially the baby Chinchillas & my baby turkeys had somehow knocked their water over & it was all gone too. The last few chicks I have in the brooder had filled their waterer with shavings so they had none either. I wasn't very happy about any of it & I swear I'm not leaving for 3 days again. I can do overnight OK without too many problems, but 2 nights is just too long. I was really worried about everything & this also is the first time we have left the GP pups here & gone out of town with them being out of the run. I didn't know if they would stay here or go looking for us since I didn't know what to expect from them, but when we drove up in the driveway & got out they came running. They were really hungry though because I'm sure they ate all their food either the first day or the 2nd & then didn't have any. There wasn't a morsel in that auto feeder. I was also really worried about my expensive Swedish Flower eggs in the hatcher because I knew I would come back & the humidity wouldn't be high enough & it wasn't. I went ahead & candled tonight since they're due to hatch tomorrow & still saw movement in 8 of 9, so that was better than I expected after such low humidity. I had forgotten that I had to put them in before I left when I planned for the hatch date & it wasn't good timing, but then you can't hold eggs forever either before putting them in the incubator, especially when they're shipped & you don't know for sure how long it's been since they were laid. At any rate I did hear some peeping & I'm crossing my fingers that they will hatch tonight or tomorrow. I have two Ameraucana eggs in with them too that are due to hatch tomorrow. Anyway, I was so relieved to not come home & find any dead rabbits or chicks or turkeys. The little RP turkeys I got shipped are growing so much already, wow, they're going to have to have another pen as soon as I can build something for them. I have been feeding them game bird starter from Orschelyn's, which is a little lower in protein than the stuff they have at
TSC, but slightly higher than chick starter, I think it's 22% if I remember right. Some people feed them even higher protein, but I have read both ways that you should & you shouldn't, so I guess you can do whichever you want & see how it goes. I got what the breeder I got them from told me to get, so I feel like it's probably alright. I did find one of my young chicks outside the pen in the run when I got home & caught it & got it back in. I finally figured out that it had dug under the the corner of the pen in the sand & squeezed through, so I put some rocks there so they can't dig there any more. I was surprised that only one managed to do that, it was one of my Ancona chicks. It seemed pretty happy to get back in & get a drink of water & some food. I don't think it could reach the big chicken's water. I guess none of the big guys or gals picked on it since I couldn't see any injuries or anything, which is kind of a miracle since they haven't been out there that long. I want them to grow bigger before I let them out with the rest of the flock.
My DH's mother has Alzheimer's & is 90 years old & she is getting more & more childlike all the time. I think she has done really well for as long as she has been living with it so far, but then they started her on medication right away after being diagnosed. She still remembers most people that she sees all the time, but they have to remind her of who some of the family are that she doesn't see often. She will ask you something & two minutes later ask you the same question again or make the same statement. This afternoon at lunch she was reciting nursery rhymes over & over & then she got on the subject of an old neighbor they had all been discussing & asked about him about 5 times until they finally got her onto another subject. It's like she gets something stuck in her head & can't get off of it, like a broken record. She is starting to get confused about time of day & time of year. She had a sweater on today when my DH & I went to the nursing home to pick her up to go with us for lunch & it was 91 outside. We stopped by his brother's house where we knew there were cooler clothes & picked up a short sleeved blouse for her to change into when we got to his sister's house. She didn't want to change at first, but shortly got overheated & they had to make her change. I know it's a challenge for my DH's brother & sister-in-law that are there with her all the time to deal with all of it. We only get there every 2-3 months. I know it's hard for them all to see her like that & some are more in denial than others. All in all though at least she is not combative like some of them, she is mostly pretty happy all the time in her little world, so that's a plus I guess if you have to have that disease to at least be in a happy state.
IVY, thanks for that recipe for keeping berries longer, that is wonderful, I have to write that somewhere & keep it handy. We always have a problem with strawberries trying to keep them fresh enough until we can eat them all.
. I really want a lavender pullet, but I have 2 Mille Fleurs 
