Hello again!
I dunno what's happening here, but I couldn't stand the stink and clean up of having Laxmie and her peeps in my bathroom any longer. They were moved to the hutch. Laxmie rooted the other two hens out right away, but I think another hen is starting to lay. We'll see. It's either ours or the neighbors. We cannot keep the neighbor's hen out of our yard. I think she used to lay her eggs here before we moved in and the house was abandoned. But now . . . .
We have a new problem. Before I took the peeps and Laxmie outside I heard a very loud peeping and rushed into the bathroom to find a peep on the floor dying. I have no clue why. We moved them outside and everything has been fine for four day, until ... just like that ... another one up and died in minutes. The head and neck in both cases were very, very loose. I don't know if that's normal or not. Seeing they can nearly turn their heads clear around is making me think it's normal, but no blood or other injuries discernible. The first time it happened I thought Laxmie might have stepped on it and broke its neck. I dunno. Then again today, we saw the runt just standing with her little head bowed low and barely peeping. Why? Of course, the others pecked on her, but I brought her inside in a small box and forced down some onions, a piece of Anacin, one worm chopped up, and then put antibiotics in all their water. We kept her warm in the kitchen as the monsoon makes it a bit cool outside. But remember, we're in India, so "cool" is a relative word. And we cannot keep strange chickens away from them. So, I don't know if she picked up something or not. All the others seem to be fine.
Anyway, we put her to bed with Mom and we'll see in the morning if she's still alive. But we started with eleven and are now down to eight if this one dies.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Best!
Sky~
