Having such a crappy night. My previous avatar was a pic of my baby "Sophia"...a bantam white cochin pullet I purchased as a day old last March. She passed away tonight. She was hanging by herself and ignored the handful of scratch I threw out when I opened the pop door for the day so I picked her up and checked her out. She seemed a little lethargic compared to her normal self and her butt had a poopy mess so I brought her in for a bath, blow dry, vitamin booster and some TLC under a heat lamp. I kept her in all night and this morning she seemed about the same so I gave her more vitamins and she ate some food, a small strawberry and drank some water. I got her out again this evening for some cuddling and her butt was messy again and she could barely keep her eyes open but otherwise seemed fine. No other outward signs of illness. She died an hour later. I suspect she might have either been egg bound (abdomen was a little harder than normal but not a lot) or ate something bad while free ranging. She was one of my favorite girls and so sweet. I will miss her terribly and my kiddos are broken hearted too. Hoping lots of fluffy butts hatch tomorrow so they have a small distraction. I feel so bad for her best friend "Stormy" a SB OEGB pullet and her boyfriend "BB" a Dutch bantam cockerel. They were looking for her all day today. They were hatch mates and I am going to be keeping a close eye on them as the three of them are ALWAYS together. If Sophia ate something bad, it is possible she shared with the two of them.
My pipped egg is still cheeping away in there. Not much progress yet. I did pick up a humidity gauge today while I was in town (suspected it might be low even with a sponge seeing as my Brinsea right next to it has the humidity pump adding water several times an hour) and went ahead and put it in. Didn't feel it was more of a risk to the pipper than possibly way too low humidity. I added an extra warm wet sponge when I added the gauge and wrapped a towel around the bator too. It is hanging in there at 59-62*F so I think it's good. Since it was open, I risked a quick candle of an egg that I suspected an internal pip when I went into lockdown but hadn't progressed or wiggled since...it was dead. When I opened up the egg it was a cutie pie little splash silkie with really good foot feathering but it had a weird spot on it's back that was kinda like a see through section and it hadn't absorbed the yolk sac. It just wasn't meant to be. I am hearing several different cheeps coming from the other eggs so I am hoping for a few external pips when I wake up in the morning. It's our last school day before Spring Break and this mommy can't wait to sleep in...and cuddle some BABIES!
