Hi, all. Another stop in for a quick update.
Frou-Frou is still stable. She had a couple days where she was sleeping almost all the time and not walking around, but she's come back out of that to where she was before. Sleepy, closed eyes, but walking around and drinking on her own and having normal droppings. We started putting eye ointment in her eyes twice a day and she's been opening her eyes a bit more, but they're still puffy and swollen. She's not losing much weight if any and eats when we put food in her beak for her. Not sure where to go from here, though, because she's been on the eye ointment for about a week and an oral antibiotic for a day or so longer than that, and this is all the progress we've made. :/
In the main flock, I had a shock when I found piles and trails of white feathers all over the yard. I thought for sure something got into the yard and carried off one of the white Easter-egger twins, but then I came across one of them, Wynne, in a sad state. Poor Wynne can't move without dropping feathers, and I can't pick her up or pet her without pulling feathers out as well. She's entered a particularly heavy molt! Better now than later, however. She's already bare down her back and I'd hate to have her out in the cold in this state!
Meanwhile, She Who Sleeps Standing Up gave up on her molt some time ago and has now returned to brooding.
The Lady Wyandotte is coming out of her broody spell at last, but still wants to sit on the nest for part of the day. I lost my temper with her yesterday because she wouldn't let me catch her, and I regret being so rough with her when I finally got my hands on her. She's not hurt or anything, and doesn't seem to have any hurt feelings, but I always feel so bad when I lose my temper with my girls.
Hard to be sad, though, when I sit in the yard with them and get covered with chickens almost immediately.
I call that forgiveness.
Crashie duck turned 10 weeks old on Friday, so she's off her vitamin supplement now and her head isn't as yellowish from playing in vitamin water.
I didn't get pictures, just haven't had the gumption for it, but the little dear has been going outside for a few hours almost every day in a pen inside the duck yard. Her parents are not impressed. In fact, it's a good thing there's fence between her and them, because I think Malcolm would have torn her apart by now just judging from how aggressive he gets when she's near the fence. She hardly notices him, and she did learn the joys of wallowing in mud from Trudi, so she always wakes me up in the morning eager to go out.
Now if only she'd let me get out of her line of sight while she's out so I can be doing things other than sitting around...
Speaking of Crash, I've had a few people ask me what I'm going to name her now that I know for sure she's a girl. I have a lot of names that I like for her, that would be fitting for her, but 'Crash' is a name with a story and with meaning. Ever since before she hatched, she has been Crash. From the night I dropped her egg, to the morning some days later when she hatched, to the following days when I was sure she wouldn't last long... I think, since she's been Crash for all of her life thus far, that she'll remain Crash.
Just thought I'd put that out there.
And in final news, Emmy has been doing just fine since her initial scare upon arriving here. I strongly suspect she was just stressed from the move and was acting sick because of it, as she hasn't shown any signs of being ill since. I've been distracted with Frou'f and haven't been paying attention to the days--Wednesday will mark 4 weeks of her being here!--so I haven't progressed as usual with her quarantine. Now that I'm aware of the time frame, however, she should be finishing quarantine in a couple weeks at most. Depends on how things go, of course.
So that was longer-winded than I initially intended... But, for those of you terribly interested, now you know what's going on here.
Precious gal.
