But on a sad note, when we returned home my 9 yo dd found her bunny dead. The bunny had got out, had been attacked by something in the middle of the night, my mother found her loose the next morning, put bunny back in the cage....but bunny died either from heat or stress. Bunnies can die from just being too stressed. Something had beat up bunny some - not a dog....either a owl or possibly one of my cats or one of the local ferals. But bunny had a bunch of hair missing. Just don't know....but Easter Bunny is gone. So now DD wants a new pet bunny, which will be okay, because I consider her pet bunny my garden fertilizer maker.
My rooster died today. He really didn't do the heat well last week and just didn't seem to recover but he was also one that I got with a few other birds that turned out to have Mareks so it very well could have been that. He came from a different area of the person's farm but you know how pervasive Mareks can be. All my birds got vaccinated for it 10 days ago so we'll see what happens with them.
It was such a bummer. I didn't even plan on having a rooster but he was given to me and he was my favorite breed (Wyandotte) and was so cool looking. He was a blue splash and was HUGE! That's why I had to name him Zeus. My kids found him. He was on his back in the run and my son was trying to make him get up by smacking the fence. We went out there and he was already gone. I suspected he wasn't feeling well but until this morning he just seemed a little under the weather. When I went out this morning he was panting and lethargic. I've been keeping shade on the run, lots of fresh water and frozen veggies for treats plus providing a nice mud hole to wallow in but he was still cooking. He didn't even run like usual when I went to pet him. Poor boy.
Made it a whole lot harder when all the family were looking at me with worried and sad looks. Then my son had to go and hug me...
Sniff. Thank you, I feel a little better.
i have some good news!!!!!
all six of my remaining eggs hatched! yay! and because i was pretty sure that the broken eggs were an accident, i crossed my fingers and left all of my broodies with 2 eggs each. i'm so glad i gave her another chance - she's out there murmuring to her babies as we speak!
i've also found someone who ordered some buff orp babies yesterday from a hatchery in oregon and they will be at her post office bright and early this morning, so my kids and i are running up to south seattle this morning to grab a few more chicks to offer to the ladies!
i'm so excited! i hope things look up for everyone else as well!!!!
