Not much has been going on in poultry land these days. Only Connie has been laying, so we have an ample supply of very large eggs for our cooking.
I also realized it’s her birthday, or close to it, since Heather’s son has picked up his tiny poults for this year. She’s come a long way from her start in such a fancy environment!
That was the good news. As I was feeding the fowl, I heard an odd noise, like a branch scraping against the coop. When I checked it out, I realized it was Bianca, my only chicken who survived the Great Chicken Massacre a couple of years ago. She was breathing funny. I planned to check on her when I came back.
Anyway, I went to feed the horses. When I came back to turn the water off and pick up eggs, Bianca had collapsed. Now I’m all worried she got something contagious, so I am VERY disinfected now. I’m sad to lose her. I will keep a close eye on the others, who all seem fine so far. Of course, Bianca was all perky until today. She even got out a couple of days ago and was spritely running around.
She’d never been a big layer, and hadn’t produced eggs since last winter, so it might just have been her time. But she was my oldest. Sniff.
I exercised both Apache and Drew to cheer myself up. I think Vicki’s work with Drew is paying off—he did well in his ground work.
I’ll be doing a lot of coop cleaning in coming days. I hope Cindy and Cathy don’t get too pestered by Clint now that the rooster to hen ratio is 1:2.
Circle of life. Etc. Plus another senseless school shooting.
The Hermits' Rest 