Tragedy struck while Steve was in charge of the chicks. I was gone all day yesterday...from 5:00am-9:00pm I was doing my civic duty as an election judge, yes I was personally rocking the vote. Anyway, Steve was in charge of all things chicken. He didn't count the little chicks when he closed up last night. This morning when I was trying to recoup my sleep, he let the chickens out. But two were outside of the coup. One was dead, the other excited to be with the rest when they came out. The dead one didn't have any marks, or so Steve says. It must have been scared to death being outside all night.
When I went out later in the morning to check out the situation, fill the empty water feeder, fill the feed feeders, check for eggs, etc. I counted the small chicks and there were only 13. So, three must have been out last night; one found dead, one survivor, and one MIA.
On the plus side both Little Brown and PuffBall are laying. For the past 4 days they have each layed every day. The eggs are small and I give them to the grandkids who love having little eggs. The leghorns still aren't laying, even the one who did for a bit; nor the Wyandottes.
Elvis (formerly known as Job) is crowing some, but its not near the volume or 'sound' that Carl did so all is fine.
Steve and all the grandkids sharing popcorn.
Steve with Will.
I could only fit the turkey in the oven.
Me and Will with a chicken picture in the background.
Matt has his first kill. A very nice doe that he is taking up to the Holt meat locker to get processed. Luckily the angle I took the picture didn't let the 'gutting' show.
Babs the BarredRock died this morning. She was in the roost this morning (where I put her at 5:00 last night). I put her out and as you can see she just sat there listliss.
She would just sit in the water, not moving. I then gave her an exam. I felt what might have been an egg way up high, but nothing was moving. So I gave her an enema; water, dish soap, baby oil, epson salt. She just sat there during all this and made just a little cooing.
Once again I go to let out the chickens only to find out there has been chaos. Walking to the coop I noticed turkey feathers (the first picture) and thought - 'now that's strange'. Then I opened up the coop and saw the turkey amid more feathers on the floor and the turkey was looking rather bare.
This is just a comparison of eggs. From the left: PuffBall a Porcelain d'uccle Bantam, LittleBrown a Dark Cornish Bantam, Sally a New Hampshire Red, Babs a BarredRock.
Emmy, aka "the Chicken Whisperer" collects hens. She even had Sally at one time.
The grandkids came to stay all night. Abby captured Little Brown (who laid an egg!). The kids later helped carve the pumpkin.
Sally, Jess, Little Brown, and PuffBall went to the church 'Trunk or Treat' with us. Bishop Williams is so much fun. You had to stick your hand through the fencing to get the candy.
