I feel utterly horrible right now, because I had to put Dash, the rooster who injured his legs, down today. It just hit me like cold water that no matter how much he struggled to survive, he was never going to walk normally again, and that the other chickens would soon stop merely bullying him and start actually hurting him. I know I did the merciful thing, but it still hurts like all get out to have to put down a perfectly good and beloved rooster just because of a freak accident.
I also had a bad experience at the livestock auction today. I went there to try and find a decent size cage for a less than outrageous price (it's a flea market; why do you have used goods priced the same as the exact same item in the store brand new?!). I went by one of the poultry sellers and was horrified. Usually his birds are in halfway decent shape, but today he had some birds there that were just pitiful. Indian Runners with their eyes freshly plucked out, sikie hens with absolutely no feathers on their heads, other chickens that looked like they had been knocked around in the dryer before being put on display; just absolutely painful to look at. And the prices he was asking for them- wouldn't offer 1/4 what he was asking for birds in that condition. All you can do is just shake your head and walk away.
Aren't I just sunshine today.
On a much lighter note, I picked up my bantam Ameracaunas and Vorwerks from John Blehm today. It was originally supposed to be 10 (7 A, 3 V), but the Vorwerks eggs for this week didn't hatch, so he gave me 6 Vorwerks hatched from last week, and an extra 2 Ameracaunas!
That's it! No more chickens! I really, really hope there are more females than males. Don't be surprised if I'm on here 8 weeks from now asking if anyone wants some bantam roos!
I admit though, the Lavender A's are such sweethearts. When he put them in the box to sort them out, I stuck my hand in and they ran (more like waddled; they had only been out of the hatcher an hour tops) up to it and began snuggling up to it!
Unfortunately, one of the black A's and a V aren't doing too well, so I don't know what's going to happen to them.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.
Rats! I forgot to add that Mr. Blehm has seconds/culls available and that if I thought anyone was interested to let them know. They're good birds, they just don't meet the Standard. I would have picked up a couple if he hadn't given me the extras.
