Darn dogs; I wish they'd stay out of chick business! Sorry about the little one, even if it was a meat bird.
SO FAR, he's still alive, and it has been almost four hours since that incident. He won't move, but he's breathing fine, sleeping fine, and moving his head fine. His entire side is pretty much one giant bruise, so I don't foresee him moving much at all in the next few days anyway. But he's alive, so there is hope.
But let me tell you all... today is turning out to be CRAZY! After that issue, we moved the cornish rocks and ducklings outside to a little white dog playpen (white wire fold-able thingy). They stayed out there while my nephew FINALLY put down lime and hay in the giant pen out back, along with a giant semi hood to use for their shelter. While he was doing that, I got the flimsy-sided pool out of the barn, set it up, and filled it up. I got some cardboard boxes and put down in the bottom and then set a 2x8 on top of those, leaning upwards to a metal lawn chair. Then we put the ducklings on the "ramp" and they dove right into the water. For several minutes we watched them as they used the ramp to get back up, climbed almost to the top, then jumped off the side back into the water. It's like they just wanted to do a "high dive" over and over! It was so cute! I did get video, but the camera died as I was recording, and I have to wait for the battery to charge to get the video off of it.
BUT. THEN. As if the attacked chick wasn't bad enough, my sister comes running from the back yard saying one of my roosters has his skull exposed. I ran back there and HE DOES. My phoenix rooster finally got his butt kicked by Skeeter one time too many, and the entire back of his skull has no skin. And the skin is NOT loose enough to sew it back up! An actual chunk was removed somewhere. But I put vaseline on some non-stick gauze pads, put it against his head, and used the self-stick non-adhesive bandaging to hold it on by wrapping it around his head. His face is bloody and his nostrils were blocked with dried blood, but I cleaned those out. He won't open his right eye, and only opens his left eye when he gets scared/annoyed/hurt more as I moved him around. He's resting in a towel-lined laundry basket in my room and hasn't bothered to move. But he's still breathing so far.
AND. THEN. Back to the positive side, MY FIRST GOSLING IS OUT OF THE EGG!!! It's very dark for a "white" goose, but I'm hoping that means they are auto-sex. I saw her hatching and noticed a fairly big bulge down by her belly, and tried to put her back in the egg. Once I got her in there and calm, I laid the egg back down. But she was ready to get out, and as soon as I moved my hands away, she pushed REALLY hard with her feet and actually kinda launched herself out of the shell. It was then that I realized she had already absorbed all of the blood vessels, and the bulge on her belly was much smaller. The yolk was actually absorbing into her belly right then!
So it has been a roller coaster here. I'm waiting for the incubator to get warm again after trying to shove the gosling back into the egg, then I'll get some pics through the window of the incubator. But then the other two MAY hatch during that time, too. Who knows. I'M HAPPY I GOT ONE, THOUGH!!!
