From tragedy comes growth

[fifenashia]

Wow, it's been a real long time since I updated this. I got busy and .... well you know how it goes. Then yesterday tragedy struck us for the 2nd time. Let me back up and update form the night we put them all together.

It was a rough few days but they did well and overall settled down, Duckie became VERY attached to the newbie duckling. They grazed together and slept on the bottom of the coop together. Then one day I went down and the duckling was making the oddest noise, not a quack but similar. As I picked it up i noticed.... pin feathers!!! We had gotten a DRAKE! Holy cow was I excited! I wondered if him and duckie would become mates. And it seemed they might, she was loosening up, becoming more calm and her ticks that she had developed lessened. Even a friend of mine a few weeks ago noticed how well she had adjusted since 4th of July even. And then, all 4 girls were laying for us! We got a bunch of eggs albeit not every day but still. Life was going well at the Squawk box.

I even became more comfortable with them being left out alone again. The fence has been shored up and we had a large patio door installed in the living room that exits to the yard. They will occasionally wander up to the door and beg for blueberries haha. I love my flock of misfits. Tank is growing ridiculously fast and he is bold and brazen, even scaring off the local cats! He don't take crap from noone and I think he takes his job as Patriarch Protector VERY seriously.

Yesterday, my youngest went down to put all the birds up so we could let the dogs run for a bit. And he found Tank the Drake dead, floating in his pool. We are all pretty upset. The thing of it though is that it's not that I was super emotionally attached to him. But I think duckie was and I my heart breaks for her. With this group, once they went outside I havent spent as much time with them. Working 8-10 hours a day and then the hour long commute sucks. But I think I was also trying to protect myself from getting hurt as bad as last time. It didn't work. I miss him, I miss his weird razzy quack. And even though he was mean, he was a good duck to have around.

Not sure what will happen now. I was looking forward to building him and duckie a "love nest" this fall for under the hen house so that they could be below, together and be warm. Crap, now what!

And this morning duckie and red have been VERY vocal down there. They want out and I think they want Tank's company.

What's a chicken momma to do!?!?

 

[Whispering Winds]

You know, the way you wrote that, you could almost write a book about the experiences . . .might want to start a journal.

 

[fifenashia]

Newest pictures of the girls, taken and edited. Such spoiled drama queens.

Duckie the Wonder Duck showing off her beautiful blue stripes. This bird is amazing, to survive a vicious dog attack and now to lose her duck buddy and yet she is strong, resilient. I adore her so much!

 

[fifenashia]

Today went better than I expected. I went down this morning just to check and ensure all 4 were alive and kicking. They were!

I took down some tomatoes, apple slices, blueberries and a few slices of wheat bread to bribe them with. Hey, how else will I entice them to sit close to me for any period of time?? Once I opened the door, they rushed the door and stretched wings out happy to be free. Blueberries are a brood favorite and the twins especially love them. They were Tank's favorite as well. He would tear a finger off to get to one if you weren't careful!

I also got the hen house cleaned out, fresh pine shaving put down and it didn't take long for one of the comets to jump in and make herself at home. Then I added shavings down below for my duckie duck. It's getting colder in the evenings and I want her to be able to stay warm, even more important on my end now since she is alone down there. Last winter I put her up at night so she was in with her sisters. Not sure how that will go this year. I am thinking of finishing putting up some OSB underneath to kind of "box" it in on 3 sides and then put a 2X4 across the bottom to hold the shavings in. Make it all cozy and toasty. I digress though. I cleaned out the pool/duck pond and haven't refilled it yet. That was hard to do actually. Not sure what to do from here on that one.

The girls are so fun to watch, and they followed me around the yard some. Ending up by the back door again, we were doing yard work but I made time to stop and take some pictures. I had been planning on getting some pictures of them all this weekend. Guess that's my lesson on procrastination.

They are cooped for the night and I didn't really think I was bothered that much by Tank's death. I kept saying I was only upset for "her" and what this means for "her". So why do tears continue to fall? No matter what I do, I get attached to them. Stupid prey animals that wiggle their way into our hearts!

Guess that's part and parcel for being a chicken mama....

 

[fifenashia]

Quote:
Thank you so much, One day I may try to put them all together and do that!


So we had a pretty decent weekend, the girls spent a lot of time out and about and I got to play a bit and just spend time with them. Makes me feel good to be around them.

Duckie's tics are getting more pronounced though which just makes me ache. I will give her credit though, she is a brave little thing. Today when I got home from work, the chicks and Red came flying up the yard to greet me with jubilant energy!

And duckie was right there with them even though you could tell it made her nervous and she started head bobbing and making that weird noise again.

So I threw down some cooked corn that Caleb didn't eat and they attacked it!

They all loved it and it made me feel good to have her associate me with such yummy treats!

Last night I went down and put her up in the hen house with the girls. It's funny that the chicks (I still call them chicks even though they are huge and well over 6 months old)

refuse to sleep on the roosting bars we put up. I have a suspicion that Red refuses to allow them up there. So I threw Duckie in with them and hopefully she was warm and toasty all night long. I plan to do it again tonight too. I sleep better knowing she is warm with her sister chucks.

Aaaand, the boys have finally named the twins. It has been a long time coming and multiple names have been tried. We have decided on Haley for "Haley's Comet" and Isabella for the other. They named her for a cartoon character on Phineas and Ferb, she's the one who continually comes up to the main character and says "watcha dooooooo-in?" She is the one that is always first on the steps to say Hi and she followed me around the yard this weekend, even helping me to weed the garden

Well, it's late now and I see Duckie all by her lonesome picking around the yard so I'm going to go down and try to snuggle her a bit before putting her to bed.

I leave you wuth a picture I took this afternoon of the twins squaring off against the cats.

 

[fifenashia]

Came home today to the most awesome greeting! All three girls and the duck came running over to say HI! And now the twins will jump up to pick blueberries out of my extended hand. BEST TRICK EVER!

I LOVE MY CHICKENS!!

 

[fifenashia]

Pretty busy month!

The girls are doing FABULOUS! They are in molt right now but are STILL laying for me!

Then this evening, my neighbor called. Her chickens have been dying off and she is left with one. So they tore down the coop and burned it. She asked if I would take her last survivor. Of course I said yes, how could I not?

So I went ahead and set up a dog crate, wrapped in a blanket and wood shavings thrown down on the bottom. I put her by the house and set up some garden fence to keep her separate from the others. I placed an outside table over top with a tablecloth on it and gave her food and water (with a few drops of bleach). She is a pretty white hen with brown speckles and we have named her HOBO!

I am planning on quarantining her away from the others for at least the next 30 days. Cross fingers that the others died for reasons other than illness.

 

[fifenashia]

Hobo; they said she was a "Buff Orpington"... Ummm I pretty much know NOTHING about chicken breeds, BUT I think a "buff" is different from a "white"

We are quarantining for 30 days. So she is stuck with a dog crate wrapped in a blanket tucked under a table...

 

[fifenashia]

Hobo has completed her first week of Quarantine! I was thinking of introducing them all since she looks healthy.... After reading the Quarantine thread, I am convinced that we need to go the whole 30 days!

I am also planning on worming them all for the first time. I will start them on Wazine since they have NEVER been wormed before. Then 2 weeks later I am hoping to use Pour on Ivermectin so really knock out any parasites left.

They are all doing well and I am one happy chicken mama!

 

[fifenashia]

Almost a year has passed, isn't it amazing how much time flies! A lot has changed since this time last year, mainly we have acquired 3 new ducks and a stray chicken has adopted us. That and the goats of course...

So last winter we talked a lot about a new coop but really didn't have the funds for it, it managed to survive another winter. Amazingly, we may get one more out of it but not without some repairs this time around. Everyone was getting along, we have all 4 hens and little ducky set up in the coop and free-ranging during the day.

This summer, a friend calls me up and asks me if I would take a duckling. It was found abandoned, momma was killed and he knew I had birds already. Of course I said yes. DH just shook his head, what would he do without me and my passion for all things fin, feather and fur? So we welcomed in a brand new baby Pekin whom we affectionately call "Perry".







I made contact with another duck owner here on BYC and we made plans for me to drive up and buy some Cayuga and Pekin crosses off of her. So up we went and home we came with 2 new ducks. Total at this point is 4 hens and 4 ducks. Hubs said that's it, no more!





I got 3 little nigerian dwarf/Pygmy goat kids this summer for my birthday, Wanda is the feisty one and she hates the chickens (They know it already and work hard to stay out of reach of those horns!).





About a week ago, I looked out the back door and saw a new hen hanging out. Seriously? What in the world! She would come over in the morning, hang out all day and go away at night. 2 nights ago she went down with the other hens and stayed the night in the coop. Tonight she did the same, but tonight she is hanging out with the ducks below instead of in the hen house with the other girls.





Plans for the winter include fixing the roof and putting up some plywood on the bottom in order to offset the wind and snow. It's supposed to be COLD this winter! Throw up some plastic sheeting to keep the snow out and I have found some rotted spots on the OSB that makes the hen house part so I need to figure out how to patch that up.

This spring I am having a new coop built and we are going to board up the current coop for the goats to use. Then I can store hay in the hen house part!