This has been a sad chicken week on the farm. On thursday I discovered our female Japanese bantam Priscilla (companion to Elvis) face down in the hay of their house, dead. There didn’t appear to be any signs of foul (hah) play, and none of the others in her cage appear sick, so hopefully it wasn’t something contagious. Good thing Elvis has the two younger Japanese to keep him company. Unless they are really pigeons.
Sometime last night, the strong winds popped the top off of the d’uccle cage, and this morning the d’uccles were all huddled up…but the silkie has gone missing. I’m not sure if she flew off on her own, or something snatched her – it would be strange for a predator to leave the others, however. I hope if she is still alive she will wander back, she was one of my favorites (I have a soft spot for the chickens that look like they are wearing little Russian hats).
The ducks have been hiding eggs. I was picking up the visible ones when I felt one hidden under a lot of hay in their nesting box. Then I found another….and another. I don’t think they’ve been there for too many days (they didn’t smell, anyways), so they should still be good. But we’ll keep them for our own consumption just in case.
Oh god. It’s the Bird Flu!
Sorry to hear about your chicken troubles. Hope things get better for your critters.
aw little eggs hidin
I’m also sorry to hear about your chicken woes. Have you found the silkie yet? What’s her name? What do you usually do with the duck eggs?
The silkie has not returned (and she didn’t have a name). Usually we eat the duck eggs just like you would chicken eggs, but we haven’t eaten many lately, so Cabol has been selling them to people at work.