Sharing My Woes

CurlyQuail

Songster
Jun 20, 2020
328
296
126
Los Angeles, CA, USA
A big dump of everything that’s been getting me down.

Well first of all, work. Does any more need to be said?

Then one of my quail was dragging its wing and everyone in the poultry world said they either didn’t know what wrong, recommended culling him, or both. (I ended up calling the vet and they said they couldn’t be sure what was wrong until I bring him in. I took him in and he flew and the wing didn’t hurt him and he showed no other symptoms so the vet doesn’t know either🙃)

I got eight mixed breed chicken eggs from a friend as I wanted to get into chickens. I borrowed her incubator and kept her settings. The whole incubation process was much easier than I thought. One egg never developed but come hatching day it looks like we’ll have seven chicks! Now it was my first hatch and I was determined to stay awake for the entire thing. I ended up falling asleep (exhaustion, ya know) and when I woke up I found one chick had drowned in the bowl of water I used for humidity. I had a motion camera on the incubator in case I missed something and according to the time stamp, the chick died fifteen minutes after I fell asleep. If only I could’ve held out a little longer, or used a different bowl.

After this whole ordeal I wanted to hatch chicks again but this time it was low risk. I bought fertilized eggs from Trader Joe’s, so if none ever took I could just tell myself “oh well maybe they were just in the freezer for too long.” Well of the six (in hindsight I should’ve done more) I incubated, four ended up developing. On the 21st day we had a power outage. I had to take care of so many things that the eggs weren’t even on my mind. My the time I realized to check, the incubator had dropped to 75 degrees!! I wasn’t sure how long it had been this cold or if any of the eggs would survive but I decided to keep them in there a bit longer. On the 27th day of their incubation, one chick hatched. I wasn’t even aware they could hatch this late.Anyways, now she’s alone as the older chicks were being so aggressive with her she started to bleed. She’s got a plushie to sleep with and she has closely supervised play dates but it’s not enough for her. Once her wounds heal up I’m going to try sticking her in the other brooder again but for now I have a very sad, very LOUD chick.

I got my first ducklings! My dad isn’t a bird or farm person but what he does like are eggs. He came to me with a proposal that I should get ducks as they have bigger eggs and some breeds can outlay a chicken. I agreed on one condition, he pays for the shipping. We have a deal! Luckily the Newcastle Disease quarantine had just been lifted so I could order ducks from a reputable breeder rather than search Craigslist. I ordered two female runners, three female Khaki Campbells, and one male khaki Campbell. The boy came with a tag so I could tell who he is but it was getting right by the time he arrived so I cut it off a put a loose piece of floss thread on his leg. It was double knotted. The next morning I found the makeshift bracelet on the floor. I guess it was too loose? Flash forward to that night and I had a duckling that just would not quit crying. At first I thought maybe it was the brooder temperature or something wrong with the food. Nope, pasty butt. I wiped it off and put her back. I now realized I should’ve put oil or Vaseline on but I didn’t. Once again I wake up to tragedy. A dead duckling in the middle of the brooder. The other ducklings won’t go near. I pick the duckling up and she her hind end is completely full of poop. Another tragedy: I may have lost my only boy. The duckling was a khaki Campbell but since the boy had taken off his bracelet this could very well be him. I’m not comfortable vent sexing on my own so I guess it’s a waiting game.

Lastly, I had a fall on the horse I’ve been riding and looking to lease. He spooked at a bucket dropping which was disheartening on its own as I had been working on desensitizing him for months. He’s an ex racehorse so when he took off he went FAST. I fell of and got a concussion.

anyways these are just my sad tales. I have no idea why I’m posting this to be honest but here ya go
 
You've had a rough go of it, for sure. I'm sorry. At least you have some birdies to cheer you up?

And we've all made mistakes with tragic endings. There's no way you could have predicted the drowning or the pasty butt death. I had a chick die because I left her in the brooder even though I knew she was struggling. She wandered over to the colder side of the brooder and died. I still feel terrible about it, but all I can do now is learn from it. We've all got to show ourselves more compassion when we make mistakes. We're only human, right?
 
You've had a rough go of it, for sure. I'm sorry. At least you have some birdies to cheer you up?

And we've all made mistakes with tragic endings. There's no way you could have predicted the drowning or the pasty butt death. I had a chick die because I left her in the brooder even though I knew she was struggling. She wandered over to the colder side of the brooder and died. I still feel terrible about it, but all I can do now is learn from it. We've all got to show ourselves more compassion when we make mistakes. We're only human, right?
Thank you, your kind words helped put my mind more at ease
 
Unfortunately things happen. Our makeshift incubator had a little fan in it. Not sure what brand, but it was open faced with a fan blade in it. We had a chick somehow get his head stuck in it. We never made that mistake again, just like how next time you'll probably do something different with the water bowl.

Also ouch on the horse. I fell of mine once when she freaked out and she wasn't a rlfast horse. Still hurt though
 
Unfortunately things happen. Our makeshift incubator had a little fan in it. Not sure what brand, but it was open faced with a fan blade in it. We had a chick somehow get his head stuck in it. We never made that mistake again, just like how next time you'll probably do something different with the water bowl.

Also ouch on the horse. I fell of mine once when she freaked out and she wasn't a rlfast horse. Still hurt though
I’ve noticed keeping poultry is a very hands on learning process
 
Oh, I'm so sorry - what a crappy time you've had. Feel free to vent - that's what we're all here for. Some sad outcomes are mistakes we learn from, others are just plain bad luck.

When I was young, falling off spooky green horses was no big deal, but I dread what broken bones would happen to me now at my age. Fortunately, both my horses are elderly as well, not likely to spook energetically enough to throw me off, even if anything was new or unusual enough to scare them.
 
Oh, I'm so sorry - what a crappy time you've had. Feel free to vent - that's what we're all here for. Some sad outcomes are mistakes we learn from, others are just plain bad luck.

When I was young, falling off spooky green horses was no big deal, but I dread what broken bones would happen to me now at my age. Fortunately, both my horses are elderly as well, not likely to spook energetically enough to throw me off, even if anything was new or unusual enough to scare them.
Thank you for your kind words!

He’s not a green horse which makes it so disappointing! I found his lease ad as a dressage schoolmaster but his owner didn’t seem to realize years of keeping him in a stall and not riding him will bring back old habits. I’m too attached to him to just walk away now but I’ve certainly got my hands full!
 
Adding to my list of woes and one positive-

My favorite little duckling has begun to rapidly lose weight. I’m very worried for her!

On the flip side, as a part time college student I just have to say how proud I am that my summer courses started two weeks ago and I’m already done with two of them! One more to go💪
 

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