Sdwd

[Hillbilly Hen]

Sem, I am so sorry

Cyn,

he does look tired.

 

[crazyhen]

I know he has lived a wonderful full rooster life. He's just such an icon for us all. Gloria Jean

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you both. He is loved by so many people, not just us. Suede has never given us one single moment of trouble, not since the day he hatched. He was in the first batch of eggs ever incubated here, along with others who have since passed on. He surely has earned his place in the Rooster Hall of Fame.



ETA: Tonight, he went in at 5:30 p.m. while his hens were still out. He sat in the floor in front of his big screen door. I went out and sat in the coop on the other side of the divider wall talking to him. He sat for 30 minutes so about 6:30 p.m., we decided to put his hens inside.

He started out in the first picture, sometimes with his beak all the way to the floor, sat for a half-hour. Then, when he went to roost, you will see what he did in the progressive pics. Dusty seemed worried and stood over him, something she doesn't usually do.

 

[Cetawin]

Oh my big blue love...I have tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. He looks exhausted. I wish I could sit and just hold him and rock him.

 

[speckledhen]

It wasn't really that hot today. He wasn't panting. He's never seemed to have much issue with the heat, even when everyone else did.

I talked to him and talked to him, told him how much we treasured him and all he'd done, what a good boy he is, told him not to worry about his girls, that I'd take care of them if he had to leave us. When I was sitting in the floor, I heard Tom call from the deck, "How is he?". He came down to see for himself. I said I didn't think he'd see another summer; Tom sadly expressed his feeling that he won't be with us nearly that long, and Suede finally stood up, but his head kept dropping to his chest and his eyes closing. He seems like he is just winding down, my big sweet man.

 

[Cetawin]

I have cried and cried and torn closets apart looking for the tote with his beadwork in it. I am sick that I cannot find it. If those two idiots took it I will kill them. Remember Suede was on top of my pelts ; foxes, badger and my wolverine. I am about to go ballistic, it will be found tomorrow or I hunt those two lowlifes down. I have to finish it now, immediately because Suede must see it finished before he leaves us.

 

[speckledhen]

We must find that! It's priceless to me, because of who is on it and who made it.

He was crowing his "short version" this morning, but if you recall, Zane went out crowing a few weeks ago.




By the way, where is Amy these days? Miss her quirky posts!

 

[Wynette]

Oh, Cyn...I'm so very, very sorry to hear this. I'm wiping tears as I type. I know how much that big, gorgeous boy means to you both. I'll keep the Kleenex close...I think I may need it.

 

[seminolewind]

I think roos look much more pitiful when their not at their best. Maybe it's because they're always big and tall, and protective. Suede has such a following. He has brought alot of people joy (and offspring).

Cyn, he will be in my thoughts.

 

[speckledhen]

I think roos look much more pitiful when their not at their best. Maybe it's because they're always big and tall, and protective. Suede has such a following. He has brought alot of people joy (and offspring).

Cyn, he will be in my thoughts.

I agree with that. We know something is wrong with them before we know with hens. I hope I'm wrong. I hope he comes out of this funk, but I'm rarely wrong when I listen to my gut. I may be wrong about the timing, how long one of my birds will stick around, but I've rarely been wrong about what the final outcome will be.

Thank you, Wynette. I let him out this morning to go hang out under the blueberry bushes where he loves to be and find some wild plums on the ground for his girls on the back side of the garden. He's out there under the blueberries crowing right now-he refuses to quit sounding off, even if he doesn't have his full voice. He starts out a bit more energetic in the morning, but by noon, he's noticeably tired. The way you saw him sitting on his coop floor was the same way he was out in his pen, just laying on the ground nodding off.