Fuzzy, and His Crew

[Smileybans]

So recently my main guy died. I have no one to blame but myself for it too. I misused a no crow collar and he suffered for it. But we are trying to move on. We miss him every day.
The girls are literally lost without him. They don’t go into the coop anymore at bedtime and I have to corral them into it. Sure they have Bop but he’s not an alpha. The girls push him around because he’s a bantam silkie.
But we are trying to hatch a new Fuzzy from eggs fertilized by him. I put over a dozen eggs into the incubator and have my fingers crossed that his genes are there. I had seen him mating with all the girls but Bop did as well. Once the chicks hatch next month I’ll post updates here.
I also designed something in memorandum of him. I design tattoos and thought I might get one of him. Its also going on his gravestone. I know he’s a chicken but he was special. His loss hit me harder than any cat or dog I’ve lost. I live on a main road, with many semis going by all day, and have lost many cats in my life. Losing Fuzzy has been the worst.

Corn was his favorite food so I designed a cornflower behind him. It isn’t finished yet but I thought I’d share anyway

 

[Callender Girl]

I am very sorry about the loss of Fuzzy. He clearly was not "just" a chicken to you.

I think everyone who has owned chickens for any amount of time likely has made a mistake that cost a chicken's life. You learn and move on. I would be reluctant to try again with a no-crow collar.

I think it's wonderful that you are memorializing Fuzzy; the artwork is striking. I like the contrast between the blue cornflower and Fuzzy's face. When my sister's favorite cat died, she got a tattoo of Jack's face.

I would never do that because I have way too many pets and while some are more special than others, every time I am SURE I will never love another (fill in the blank with dog, cat, goat, sheep, chicken, duck or goose) as much as the one who passed on, life surprises me with new special baby.

I hope Fuzzy's genes are passing on to the next generation. Will look forward to your updates.

 

[Smileybans]

I am reluctant to try the no crow collars again. I had them on two of my other roosters and promptly took them off. My roosters don’t need to wear them since roosters are not illegal where I live. But my neighbor is complaining and a major pain.

I’m a huge softee and all of my tattoos mean something to me. I design my own tattoos so I make sure they mean something to me. Though I’m sure someone would look at my Pokémon sleeve and ask what that means. I’m a huge Pokémon nerd. That’s all.
But I’m sure I’ll love another chicken again. Maybe even the new Fuzzy but it makes sense for me to get him tattooed on my skin. I’ll probably do the same with the cat I’ve had for almost 11 years. So far he’s the oldest cat I’ve ever had.

 

[Callender Girl]

I'm glad to hear you are not planning on the no-crow collars. Your roosters are legal, and my experience in town living taught me that there are a LOT more annoying sounds in town than a rooster.

 

[Smileybans]

Yeah. I find dogs barking more annoying than my roosters crowing. I actually have gotten so used to my roosters crowing in the morning that if they don’t I don’t wake up. They are literally my alarm. I love it. I never thought I would but there it is.

 

[Smileybans]

Candled all 18 eggs today. Only 4 were empty. I also found one that I thought was dead but I’m pretty sure is twins. I know the survival rate for these are super low but how great would that be? Two Fuzzy babies from one egg.
Here are some pictures of the eggs. The white ones anyway. The rest I didn’t take pictures of because they’re olive eggs.

This one was super active. Moving all over the place in there.

Here’s pictures of the twin egg. When I first looked in I thought it was a dead egg. Because of weird dark rings. But then I turned the egg and saw two different eyes. One on each side of the egg. Both embryos were still moving too.

 

[Smileybans]

The twin egg didn’t make it, of course. But three Fuzzy eggs have hatched out so far. Three more are pipping. I had to open the incubator to remove the three chicks. It was getting really cramped in there and I didn’t want them hurting the other eggs. They were all sitting on top of two that have been working on hatching. But I hope I didn’t ruin the rest of the hatch by doing so.

These two have been working at it since 12pm yesterday. Going to keep an eye on them but hopefully they pull through. So far they’re still alive.

I have high hopes for the chipmunk patterned one to look like Fuzzy. Even though Fuzzy was all black when he was hatched out. They all hatched out of olive eggs but the black ones look like their mothers (marans of some sort).

 

[Smileybans]

These are the chicks that hatched out of my Fuzzy eggs. So far there’s only two I’m questioning the father on.

One has five toes and is feathering out silkied. Not Fuzzies baby. At the time I believe Bop was my only silkie male mating. So more than likely his. The chick hatched out of an olive egg so a mix between silkie and my olive eggers. Stupid adorable though.

Then there’s this one. It hatched out of a white egg so I assumed it was my leghorn hens. But I’m not sure Fuzzy is the father yet. I guess I’ll have to wait for it to feather out. It has black dots on it and I’m not sure where the black dots would be coming from.

The yellow chick in the back of this picture I think has cheek puffs. It came from a white egg which would be my leghorn. So if it has cheek puffs it’s a fuzzy baby.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Congratulations! It's heartwarming that it looks like Fuzzy left a legacy.

 

[thenovicehen]

Keep us posted as they grow!