Minnesota!

[PoultryBird12]

If a man has two wives and one dies is he a widower?

If so it is with saddened heart I have to tell you Bert, the now monogamous rooster I am currently using as an avatar is a widower. One of his two gals died today. I just came in from checking on them and found her dead. She was either semi-frozen or rigor mortis has started to set in. I am so disappointed. I wanted them to become old enough to lay eggs.

She was slightly bloody at the vent. I did not open her up yet. I am contemplating doing so. I assume at this point it had something to do with her being a nearly 9 month old CX.

I will let you know if I find anything. I should have known something was wrong, she was huddled with the other pullet this morning when I let them out, neither pullet came outside for sunflower seeds (their morning treat). Now the other pullet looks fine and is huddled next to Bert, I suppose they are comforting each other over the lose of the sister wife.

Sad cold day here, I am hoping my wife does not cry when she hears the bad news. Or I hope she does not laugh at me for crying.


sad,,sad,,,sad.

Awwe. That's so sad. I had many of my chickens killed my possums so I know how that feels. Only, I wasn't attached to them as much as it sounds like you are to yours. Tell your rooster, Bert not to be too sad. It will be OK. I don't blame you for crying. I cried to when one of my little chicks died due to my bad thinking. It got trapped between two boards in the night and couldn't get out. I fixed that problem. (Sorry if this isn't the most comforting email in the world.)

 

[Rhetts]

PoultryBird12- Your avatar is super cute!! This is my first year with ducks too. Quite a learning experience!

 

[Minniechickmama]

If a man has two wives and one dies is he a widower?

If so it is with saddened heart I have to tell you Bert, the now monogamous rooster I am currently using as an avatar is a widower. One of his two gals died today. I just came in from checking on them and found her dead. She was either semi-frozen or rigor mortis has started to set in. I am so disappointed. I wanted them to become old enough to lay eggs.

She was slightly bloody at the vent. I did not open her up yet. I am contemplating doing so. I assume at this point it had something to do with her being a nearly 9 month old CX.

I will let you know if I find anything. I should have known something was wrong, she was huddled with the other pullet this morning when I let them out, neither pullet came outside for sunflower seeds (their morning treat). Now the other pullet looks fine and is huddled next to Bert, I suppose they are comforting each other over the lose of the sister wife.

Sad cold day here, I am hoping my wife does not cry when she hears the bad news. Or I hope she does not laugh at me for crying.


sad,,sad,,,sad.

Now that is just a kick in the pants, isn't it? Sorry to hear it.

I don't know about chickens mourning losses. When I lose one, they all just walk right passed, and the males just look for someone else to mess with, but I have heard stories of pairs of fowl, sometimes ducks and chickens pairing up. Some are pretty funny too.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Found my thing-a-majig I was looking for.


Interesting little thing while putting the chooks to bed last night. I heard the roo vocalize. Not real loud --just sort of a buh-buh-buh.... The hen that was sitting next to him stood up out of her crouched sleeping position and one of the higher hens moved in next to him...getting up from her comfortable spot that she'd already warmed up...They traded spots after he vocalized. I hadn't seen that before or noticed. Whatever he said...Sylvia needed to sit next to him for the evening. She does have nice big fluffy feathers. I suppose. For that -15 F we had last night, he wanted the Big Fluffs all around him.

 

[lalaland]

Yeah, my experience is the other chickens do just walk right by a dead chicken. Luckily I've never had the cannabalizing experience but maybe because all of the unexpected deaths were due to illness and not injury where there would be blood. Except for the time someone;s dogs dug under the fence and slaughtered the flock, leaving a surviving pullet who refused to come out of the coop for weeks.

Ugh! I had forgotten the frozen water routine but at least it should temporarily warm up today. I do not understand weather - it is 8 below and supposed to warm to 27 above today, but only to 8 above tomorrow. yo-yo weather.

DId I already ask if anyone knew what would throw a pullet at 8 months into a total molt in the middle of winter?

 

[duluthralphie]

Interesting read Bogtown, however, I am not sure I am ready to apply that degree of sophistication to chicken thoughts. I am sure there are 'attachments" formed, I have seen it. The chicks Ethel raised ( the ones I call turkens) still hang with the turkeys most the day. When Ethel went off and hatched her own babies, when I brought her back into the farm animals ( I raised the chicks for a week in a stock tank with Ethel.) One of the turkens came running towards Ethel, I know I am anthropomorphizing, with love in her eyes. When she got close Ethel ran her off to protect her babies. I swear I saw confusion, rejection and hurt in the turkens eyes. It was sad, The turken just wanted her Mom and could not understand why Mom was mean to her.


I also see chickens that "hang out" together. I do not now how much "higher thought" I want to give that. I have seen chickens ignore the dead, and eat the dead. That does not mean I do not think Bert is not noticing something different without the sister wife.

Lala you must have learned everything there is no know about me in the 3 minutes we met each other. I could not bring myself to autopsy ( yea I now the word is necropsy) the dead chicken, reasons being:

Cold
Tired
No scalpel handy
lazy
and to contradict everything I just said, It felt like I was violating her and her memory.


I am not sure if everyone else is lie me or not, I have severe PTSD which makes me a virtual hermit. I do not want to get into why I have it, or what cause it, I do not care I need to deal with what is. I have very few people I socialize with or even know . I lie to myself and think you guys are my friends without even knowing you. I know the problems with this logic. I also know when I say I have PTSD people think of me as a nut case ready to commit work place violence ( go postal) in a second. That is not the case. I go the other way, I avoid people, because I cannot stand to ever see another person hurt or injured. I have a white knight problem, I think I should be able to save everyone, mixed with a healthy dose of survivor guilt. ( I know I shared more than I should have) writing is therapeutic.
for those reasons My chickens are my "friends" I have several levels of chickens.

I have those that live here and I barely now, I have those I am acquainted with and say hi to in passing. Then I have those that have wiggled their way through my defenses and I love. They are like kids to me , I now it is not healthy to allow this, but it is.

These CX's I allowed to live beyond camp day are in that group. Bert more so than the hens. I know the ridicule people heap on those of us that say we cannot eat pets we name. I avoid naming most chickens.

Camp day is hard for me for more reasons than you would think. I get through it to prove I am normal. Of course, I need copious amounts of adult beverages to sooth the pain afterwards.

I have no idea where I was going with this other than to say I could not open her up. I could have opened another bird or one of your birds, but not this one.

I am satisfied to just say she died, she was a CX with the myriad of health problems they have and one of those killed her. I have no idea if Bert and the nameless pullet I need to name now will live to see green grass, I surely hope so.

 

[lalaland]

Ralphie,
thats the way it is for me too - there are those that I can't necropsy no matter what and those that it is doable. Ditto with the range of attachment to various chickens. Some do just worm their way in, and there are those that I have no attachment to at all. Maybe I am ignorant, but surely attachment to chickens is perfectly healthy. As is attachment to cats, dogs, goats,.....even children now and then (just kidding).

I had a ptsd diagnosis a long time ago in my life. things are better now, but I still have one hell of a startle reaction. Strangers find it funny, especially when I am empty handed at the moment. Sometimes, something in my hands, no matter what, tends to get hurtled at the sound source. so not so funny when my hands are full. Its worse when I am tired or hungry or cold.

Any more porcelain eggs?

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie,
thats the way it is for me too - there are those that I can't necropsy no matter what and those that it is doable. Ditto with the range of attachment to various chickens. Some do just worm their way in, and there are those that I have no attachment to at all. Maybe I am ignorant, but surely attachment to chickens is perfectly healthy. As is attachment to cats, dogs, goats,.....even children now and then (just kidding).

I had a ptsd diagnosis a long time ago in my life. things are better now, but I still have one hell of a startle reaction. Strangers find it funny, especially when I am empty handed at the moment. Sometimes, something in my hands, no matter what, tends to get hurtled at the sound source. so not so funny when my hands are full. Its worse when I am tired or hungry or cold.

Any more porcelain eggs?

I am getting about 5 porcelain eggs a week. And I still marvel at how "perfect' it is. If it did not take 15 days to get a dozen, I would like to save up a dozen of them, for no good reason other than I love them. I sold 10 dozen eggs yesterday and I noticed the one woman got 2 porcelain eggs in her dozen. I did not point it out as I was afraid she would call the people in the white coats if I went on and on about that being the perfect egg.

The startled reaction is not something people want to get out of me..........lol It is ugly.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Ralphie Thanks for sharing your information. I think you'll find us a genuine and "safe" group to share your feelings about chickens and other things. Pretty compassionate about animals and people for the most part here. We love having you here as you keep us laughing. And you care about those birds. That's a good and noble thing.

I do not have PTSD. My Dad has the Diagnosis as a Veteran and has up and down days. Very Fun Man when he's up. He is totally compassionate for his animals. He used to raise beef cattle and they were treated very well on his farm. The local Vet always complimented him on the cleanliness & care of his animals. What you have just said has given me some insight on my Dad a bit. How interesting.

If butchering or culling day didn't bother you even a little bit or seeing a bird fallen that you cared about, then I think there would be more cause for worry. Nothing said for PTSD. It's something to wrap your head around at any rate. If I know I have a cull coming, it takes me a bit to get "ready" for it upstairs. I don't relish the job...that's for sure. And it always serves a purpose. It's for Mercy, for food and/or for betterment of the flock as a whole.

 

[lauralgirl]

Quote:
X2

And Ralphie, even though I am not an avid "poster" I enjoy your posts immensely! You make my day; many days! We all have our issues, at least here on BYC, most of us freely admit that :-0