Falling Down Heights, my daily life

[Miss Lydia]

I'm sorry to hear

 

[Canadian Wind]

I'm sorry to hear

THEY LIVE!

My daughter went out and heard them crying, so she dove into the remains and pulled them out!

They are now in a bird house that she's going to hang back inside the remnants of the shed. I've seen the parents coming and going from it, too. They are too fast for me to identify but look like some type of finch.

 

[Canadian Wind]

And now some bad news. Lost two of the coop chicks. No idea where they are! Daughter and I were looking at them and I was bragging about what good mamas the two hens were, and then noticed there were only two chicks in there!!!

There is no way to get out of the coop/run. There were no holes. No broken/torn hardware cloth. I am baffled. And upset.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

And now some bad news. Lost two of the coop chicks. No idea where they are! Daughter and I were looking at them and I was bragging about what good mamas the two hens were, and then noticed there were only two chicks in there!!!

There is no way to get out of the coop/run. There were no holes. No broken/torn hardware cloth. I am baffled. And upset.

I hate when babies just disappear

 

[Miss Lydia]

THEY LIVE!

My daughter went out and heard them crying, so she dove into the remains and pulled them out!

They are now in a bird house that she's going to hang back inside the remnants of the shed. I've seen the parents coming and going from it, too. They are too fast for me to identify but look like some type of finch.

That is awesome news!! I am so sorry to hear about the chicks though

 

[Canadian Wind]

Okay, update on the goings on around here.

Not sure I posted this anywhere else, but we got a van-full of FREE plants last week! One of the local garden centres shut down a bit early due to the parking lot being repaved and all the plants had been left out with a FREE TO GOOD HOME sign.

Also last week, I had a really BIG egg hatch. The egg had developed cracks all over for some reason, which I sealed with wax as the baby was still alive and active. A really nice duckling hatched about a week later, big and strong. I think this one is a Silver Muscovy, but it's sometimes hard to tell from the fuzz.

A day later, my smallest egg hatched. This baby was the opposite of the big one, and seemed to not be growing. It was the same size as a newhatched duckling fro a week later. But it was lively and eating. It now looks like it's almost caught up to the Big Baby.

One more duckling hatched a few days ago and is a Barred Scovie, although I can't tell what colour it will be yet until it starts to feather out.

Only one egg left, a nest rescue, but I can't tell if it's alive or not. There are still veins, but I see no movement. It's been like this for several days. I'll be glad when the hatching is finally done.

Most of the ducklings are outside now, either integrated with the flock, or in a grow-out pen. Still have way too many big chicks inside though. If the weather can cooperate, and my daughter stops leaving for a week at a time, I'll get the darn enclosures built for them!

Goslings are just under two months old now, and are fully feathered and as big as my Muscovy drakes! They kinda honk but still mostly make baby noises. They're outside in an enclosure during the day, but still sleep inside until their house is built.

So much building to do! Wish the weather would cooperate!

Seven ducks (two quakers and five scovies) are on nests. Managed to check eggs the other day and there should be babies soon.

A lot of the Quacker babies are turning out to be females. This is good as those we don't keep will be sold easily. Probably will only keep one drake.

So far with the 'scovies, I seem to (again) be getting more drakes than hens. Those will most likely be processed, and any females I'm not keeping will be sold. Going to restrict my colours to Lilacs and Blues/Silvers, and only keep one or two Chocolate hens. Hoping to get a Lila male.

My current four 'scovy drakes are separated from the flock. They were getting way too aggressive towards the females as well as the Aylesbury drake.

Oh, and one of the wild bird chicks died, but the other four seemed okay. Momma is feeding and caring for them in their new location. I haven't checked on them in a while as I don't want her to get alarmed.

 

[TwoCrows]

Okay, update on the goings on around here.

Not sure I posted this anywhere else, but we got a van-full of FREE plants last week! One of the local garden centres shut down a bit early due to the parking lot being repaved and all the plants had been left out with a FREE TO GOOD HOME sign.

View attachment 3880515

Also last week, I had a really BIG egg hatch. The egg had developed cracks all over for some reason, which I sealed with wax as the baby was still alive and active. A really nice duckling hatched about a week later, big and strong. I think this one is a Silver Muscovy, but it's sometimes hard to tell from the fuzz.

A day later, my smallest egg hatched. This baby was the opposite of the big one, and seemed to not be growing. It was the same size as a newhatched duckling fro a week later. But it was lively and eating. It now looks like it's almost caught up to the Big Baby.

One more duckling hatched a few days ago and is a Barred Scovie, although I can't tell what colour it will be yet until it starts to feather out.

Only one egg left, a nest rescue, but I can't tell if it's alive or not. There are still veins, but I see no movement. It's been like this for several days. I'll be glad when the hatching is finally done.

Most of the ducklings are outside now, either integrated with the flock, or in a grow-out pen. Still have way too many big chicks inside though. If the weather can cooperate, and my daughter stops leaving for a week at a time, I'll get the darn enclosures built for them!

Goslings are just under two months old now, and are fully feathered and as big as my Muscovy drakes! They kinda honk but still mostly make baby noises. They're outside in an enclosure during the day, but still sleep inside until their house is built.

So much building to do! Wish the weather would cooperate!

Seven ducks (two quakers and five scovies) are on nests. Managed to check eggs the other day and there should be babies soon.

A lot of the Quacker babies are turning out to be females. This is good as those we don't keep will be sold easily. Probably will only keep one drake.

So far with the 'scovies, I seem to (again) be getting more drakes than hens. Those will most likely be processed, and any females I'm not keeping will be sold. Going to restrict my colours to Lilacs and Blues/Silvers, and only keep one or two Chocolate hens. Hoping to get a Lila male.

My current four 'scovy drakes are separated from the flock. They were getting way too aggressive towards the females as well as the Aylesbury drake.

Oh, and one of the wild bird chicks died, but the other four seemed okay. Momma is feeding and caring for them in their new location. I haven't checked on them in a while as I don't want her to get alarmed.

Beautiful plants!!

 

[Canadian Wind]

Saved another duckling. Went into the duck coop and found another crushed egg with half a duckling exposed. Yes, the other half was still in the egg. The whole right side was exposed, and the baby's leg was hanging out, head still tucked and under the wing. I thought it was dead.

Then the leg moved. Took the egg and baby inside and into the incubator. Once it had warmed up, I cleaned it up and examined it. Fully formed, but yolk not absorbed. Bill still making chewing motions.

12 hours or so later (the next morning), I cleared off any membrane that had dried, but the yolk was still not fully absorbed. So I placed it in a small dish padded with soft TP.

By mid afternoon, the yolk was absorbed but the umbilical was still not fully dry and detached. I cut away the egg area where it was still attached and put the baby back into his cup. Baby mostly slept, which is normal for an assisted hatch.

This morning, he was out of his dish and moving about. Gave him some electrolyte water over a period of a few hours, and he's now in the brooder.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Not a good day...

Started with finding the rescue baby dead in the water dish. This is the same dish I've used for all hatchlings, so no idea what happened.

When I went out to care for the animals, I was pleased to find several hatched ducklings in the nests. But later that day I found two dead ones. One obviously looked premature, so somehow the egg was attacked. The other also wasn't ready for hatching, but barely. Yolk not absorbed, but full size baby. I'm thinking one of the new mommas (I have several first timers this year) got too rough or too 'helpful'. Rescued another egg that one of them had started going at the shell.

Tonight, I went to check on them, and found my Aylesbury drake limping so badly he could barely walk. Closer inspection revealed that the zip tie (cable wrap, whatever you want to call it) that the breeder had put on him had become too tight. I was almost sick when I cut it off. This bird was fully grown when I got hi so didn't think of checking it. I cleaned the wound and put some Honey Silver spray on it, then a gauze pad and wrapped it in gauze. He's in the broody coop right now, tomorrow I'll set something up for him so he doesn't need to walk around. Here's a pic of the tie after I cut it off. Under SPOILER because of how gross it is.

Spoiler: Really Gross

When I went to bring him back, found another duckling which I thought was dead. It was barely alive. It's now warming up in the incubator.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Not a good day...

Started with finding the rescue baby dead in the water dish. This is the same dish I've used for all hatchlings, so no idea what happened.

When I went out to care for the animals, I was pleased to find several hatched ducklings in the nests. But later that day I found two dead ones. One obviously looked premature, so somehow the egg was attacked. The other also wasn't ready for hatching, but barely. Yolk not absorbed, but full size baby. I'm thinking one of the new mommas (I have several first timers this year) got too rough or too 'helpful'. Rescued another egg that one of them had started going at the shell.

Tonight, I went to check on them, and found my Aylesbury drake limping so badly he could barely walk. Closer inspection revealed that the zip tie (cable wrap, whatever you want to call it) that the breeder had put on him had become too tight. I was almost sick when I cut it off. This bird was fully grown when I got hi so didn't think of checking it. I cleaned the wound and put some Honey Silver spray on it, then a gauze pad and wrapped it in gauze. He's in the broody coop right now, tomorrow I'll set something up for him so he doesn't need to walk around. Here's a pic of the tie after I cut it off. Under SPOILER because of how gross it is.

Spoiler: Really Gross

View attachment 3885769

When I went to bring him back, found another duckling which I thought was dead. It was barely alive. It's now warming up in the incubator.

Oh yuck.

Sorry about all those babies