Mason Farm and Ranch
Songster
This week has been hard on me and my flock. I went to a wedding out of town & when I came home the next day I found one of my favorite hens Desiree, dead in the coop. Apparently she had been eggbound with shellless eggs for a week.
I panicked that I hadn't been attentive and inspected all my girls. I was heartbroken to find my favorite hen with severe ascites (water belly). I soaked her in a warm bath and tried to drain some of the fluid. She suffered heart failure and passed in my husband's arms while I was attempting to insert the needle. Two in one day, and Daisey was my favorite. She's the mascot on the sign for my farm.
I kinda feel like I'm not allowed to leave home or they die. Today amplified the feeling. I was short 1 chicken tonite at roosting time. It happens. My property is not small and occasionally a chicken gets caught in a garden or on the porch at dark and they post up there. I find them, administer snuggles and bring them in. I've had a few do it repeatedly for the extra attention. Tonite it was Dapper Dan, a rooster. That was different because the roosters always escort the ladies home in the evening. I wasn't concerned at first, Dan posts high up. I figured he'd be easy to find. He wasn't, and where we found him broke me. He had fallen in the pond and drowned. His beautiful white feathers spread out around him in the water was nothing I ever imagined. I'm numb. Three in a week. It's like I'm being punished for the ones I've saved.
I can compartmentalize one, two was hard, but three (and I didn't really like Dan that much, but he was so pretty). It's only Thursday and I still have 3 days left in this week.
How do you deal with losing multiple chooks? I'm not doing so well and I'm afraid I'll lose more any minute now. That wasn't a concern before.
I panicked that I hadn't been attentive and inspected all my girls. I was heartbroken to find my favorite hen with severe ascites (water belly). I soaked her in a warm bath and tried to drain some of the fluid. She suffered heart failure and passed in my husband's arms while I was attempting to insert the needle. Two in one day, and Daisey was my favorite. She's the mascot on the sign for my farm.
I kinda feel like I'm not allowed to leave home or they die. Today amplified the feeling. I was short 1 chicken tonite at roosting time. It happens. My property is not small and occasionally a chicken gets caught in a garden or on the porch at dark and they post up there. I find them, administer snuggles and bring them in. I've had a few do it repeatedly for the extra attention. Tonite it was Dapper Dan, a rooster. That was different because the roosters always escort the ladies home in the evening. I wasn't concerned at first, Dan posts high up. I figured he'd be easy to find. He wasn't, and where we found him broke me. He had fallen in the pond and drowned. His beautiful white feathers spread out around him in the water was nothing I ever imagined. I'm numb. Three in a week. It's like I'm being punished for the ones I've saved.
I can compartmentalize one, two was hard, but three (and I didn't really like Dan that much, but he was so pretty). It's only Thursday and I still have 3 days left in this week.
How do you deal with losing multiple chooks? I'm not doing so well and I'm afraid I'll lose more any minute now. That wasn't a concern before.