Dang, I wonder what we've done to attract them all, then!
I definitely get you on the sleeve thing! Every time I move just right and something brushes against me, I just know it's a wasp!
Well, I had a bit of an exciting evening last night, putting the birds to bed for the night. First of all, yesterday, during the girls' free-range time, there was a sudden panic and I saw a few hens run toward the coop from my window, but by the time I got out there everyone was acting normal. So I thought that was weird, but I didn't put much into it because there were no feathers or anything and everyone seemed fine.
At coop closing time, I immediately noticed that my ancient Partridge Rock, She Who, was not in her corner of the coop. She's about 10 years old now and has issues with balance and weakness in her legs, so she sleeps on the floor in the corner of the coop. Of course, my first thought with her missing is of that moment earlier with the birds running toward the coop, so now I'm worried.
I went out into the woods and start looking around for feathers. Still nothing on that front. I'm thinking, with her balance and weakness, I've seen her trip on a log and not be able to get back to her feet, so she could just be laying somewhere... But I still am not seeing anything. Then I thought, what if she got too close to the creek and fell in? It's shallow, so she would be wet, but otherwise okay if that was the case. I hiked all the way out there and, nope, she's not there either. It's kinda far out there anyway so I wasn't really confident in that thought anyway.
I start heading back toward the house, trying to decide if I'm going to go back toward the woods and sweep for feathers again or go up by the deck where the girls wait for treats and see if maybe I somehow missed her there when I initially looked. She is a brown hen in a woods, so who knows? At this point, though, I'm thinking she's very likely gone, so I'm worn out and ready to go inside. I decide I'll go by the deck just in case, as there are some denser areas that would be hard to see a bird in from a distance and... sure enough, there she is, laying on her back and unable to get to her feet!
All I can think of is if I had decided to go out to sweep the woods again, I certainly would have missed her and she'd be gone by this morning. I guess I made the right choice to look by the deck again, but I came so close to passing by there and I wouldn't have seen her where she was.
She was woozy and thirsty, but otherwise okay, and she seems back to normal this morning. Thank goodness!
Talk about feeling bugs that aren't there, though! After hiking around the woods looking for her, I can
still feel ticks everywhere on me that aren't actually there!
Their new owner kept me updated for a couple months after that, but I haven't heard from that guy in a while. Maybe I'll send a message through and see how the boys are doing.
Gotta get that done today.
I am both extremely excited... and extremely anxious!
The only thing I can think is maybe its mareks? She's at least 4 yr old, so I would think it would have shown up by now. But, I don't know enough about it - just what I've read.
Was that wind chill or actual temp?
I mostly only get it out for 'special occasions' like weekly pictures and first trips outside, though, so the rest of my pictures (like the million I take of Casper 
