Good morning! ❤
Most of the babies are a week old today (April Fool's baby, seen above, was a week old yesterday, of course
), so there will be pictures. For the time being, here's what they've been up to these days. UGH!
Good thing I had the presence of mind to line the EcoGlow with press n seal this time!
It's about time for the big move out of the baby bin and into a REAL brooder (if you couldn't tell by all the POOP!
), though that may hinge upon whether I can get some pine shavings today... So, we'll see.
Anyway, if they make the big move, I'll probably do their week-old pictures in their new brooder.
Speaking of annual / regular picture taking, we're approaching last year's Easter babies' hatchday, and we've already passed the OEGB babies hatchday!
I kept thinking I should get pictures of them, but the weather has been uncooperative half the time and I've been preoccupied the other half.
Anyway, I'll be getting their pictures soon, though unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to get the supplies around for a hatchday party like I used to do. I've been busy the past couple years around hatchday party time and had to skip them, so I was really looking forward to doing it again this year.
Oh, well. There's always later in the summer, if I remember to by then!
EDIT: Oh, goodness, I slept like a rock and nearly forgot to add the event that happened last night!
So, a few days ago, Rufus and Roscoe had it out and Rufus was really beating up the old guy, so I separated him. I mention this only to show what my mindset was at the time.
Last night, I heard a ruckus from the other rooster flock, and looked over to see Dante and Murphy having it out. UGH! Thinking it was just the season or something getting the boys all stirred and fighting like this, I started walking that direction to see if I could break them up. That's when I spotted Darwin, hanging by a spur on the fence.
Not sure how exactly he pulled it off, because the way his leg was hooked made it seem like he was facing away from the fence when it happened. Based on Roscoe's comb, I'm guessing he was trying to fight with the little guy through the fence (this is routine--Rufus's attacks were not) and that's when it happened. He was hanging so that his other foot just barely was touching the ground, and the area between his front toes and hallux was bleeding from rubbing the fence. It was... quite a sight.
Anyway, so I shooed Roscoe and Russell back into their coop and closed them in so that I could work on Darwin unimpeded. I grabbed the big guy, who panicked, of course, and began to work his foot around to pop it loose when Murphy collided with me. Not sure what got into him, but I have some thoughts that I'll go into below. Anyway, I batted Murph away, got Darwin loose, and made sure he was okay. No limping or anything, and not much oxygen gets to that pea brain of his anyway, judging from past events with that knucklehead, so even if he was having trouble breathing while hanging like that, I think he'll be fine.
As for Murphy. I have two theories as to why he may have flown into me. The first is that he thought I was attacking Dar and was trying to attack him as well, and hit me instead. The second, and more likely to me based on his past behavior, is that he thought I was attacking Dar and was trying to defend him. Dar and Murph are pretty close. I'd even go as far as to call them buddies. I think the reason that Murph and Dante were having it out beforehand was because Dante tried to take advantage of Dar being stuck like that by attempting to fight him, and Murphy intervened then as well. Either way, I don't think this was cause for Murph to be removed or anything. This was a very unusual circumstance and I've taken steps to prevent it from happening again, so I don't think I have to worry about Murphy flying into me again.
So, long story short, I've joined the 'My Rooster Hung Himself by a Spur' Club.
Of course, it had to be Darwin.
She went from perfectly fine and even chipper yesterday to dying this morning, and had passed on her own by noon. She was about 9 or 10 years old, I'm not entirely sure.
So I moved the water dish so that it would catch the light a bit better and I showed her what to do, and she drank for a bit on her own and seems happy now. ❤ The rest of them have been drinking fine on their own, but I watched to make sure again that they were ALL drinking now. Precious little squirts. 
She's also got something weird going on with her feet so I might have to do some sort of makeshift shoe to fix that... Basically, her outer toes are under her feet so she walks on them? It's... odd.
