- Aug 5, 2010
- 5
- 0
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Hi fellow fowl spirits! Letitia, Charlotte, and Miss Bunny are three lovely jungle fowl that live in a ridiculously large handmade coop. I live in their backyard, along with my husband Alex, who is entirely deaf, and Maxwell, a huge Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, and Hansl, a control-freak Schnauzer. We defend the girls from marauding cats, scrub jays, scary owls, and probably a few skunk, if I can rely on olfactory evidence. I was given them by a friend who does more commercial stuff with her chickens, lights all the time, etc. I don't like that, so I tried to give them a more natural life. But I'm a complete novice. They have been with me for about two and a half months, and after a short settle in period, (living with my friend they were utterly wild, part of a very large flock) they started laying three eggs per day, their little combs perked right up and lost a blackness that covered them, and stood up nice and red. But on the fourth of July, the neighbors had a big hoo-hah
Don't ask me why we celebrate independence by polluting the atmosphere, scaring the daylights out of dogs and birds, spending useless money, taking away the freedom of neighbors to peace and quiet,... oops, sorry) and the girls hid in their coop for three days, and stopped laying completely. Almost two weeks later they started laying again, and then, suddenly, three days ago, they took to the coop. They have always all used the same box to lay in, leaving me a lovely little pile of three eggs. But Bunny, the smallest one, started staying in the coop. Then Charlotte took to sitting right on top of her in the box, and now Letitia, notable for her Type A personality, is sitting on top of all three, Bunny in the middle, and covering her with her wings. It looks as if Bunny were being warmed and protected by them, though it is 80 degrees out. What's wrong? I'm worried, as Bunny's comb is starting to look pale again. I don't want them to be sick!!!
