And the past two days, I've lost. Fanny, our only Jersey Giant finally past. Sadly, with a little help. It was a tough decision, but se was literally down to feathers, skin, and bones. It was so sad. I felt so bad watching her get worse each day. We tried hard for the past week, but it just got to be too much for her and I felt guilty watching her suffer. She was a good ole hen and will be sorely missed.
A new hen has now replaced her on the front porch sick chicken ward. One of our new Blue Cochins has come down with the same thing that our other chickens had last November: bubbley eyes (literally, bubbles coming from the eyes) and snot. Anyone have any ideas?? We searched high and low for info last year, and never really came up with a definitive answer. It went through all of our chickens. All recovered but one old hen. So we're hoping that this will pass with her too and that none of our others will come down with it again.
And if all that wasn't bad enough, I come out to the rabbit hutch yesterday morning to find a dead male bunny. They boys and girls were separated about three weeks ago. I had 3 boys and two girls. Apparently, boys of 3 months old come into their male hormones and will fight (really? 3 months?). I feel so bad. This was all my fault. Nothing that I have read, or any info that has come through other rabbit owners expressed that this would happen SO early. So, I am banking this as yet 'another' lesson learned. Next time I will be smarter. Of the two males that were left yesterday, one found a new home. Everyone else is fine. Onward...
Second sunny day in a row and the temperature has been in the 30s during the day and teens at night. Could someone please send spring? I'm not sure I'm ever going to thaw. I've been trying to get all my bunnies plucked, but I don't want to pluck them when the nights are in the teens. I spun a bit of angora last weekend (hopefully I will finish a skein this weekend), and boy is it ever nice. All I can say, if you are a spinner and want to start to raise your own fiber animals, angora rabbits are a good place to start.
I just said in my blog post yesterday that I had seriously been thinking about raising some Angora rabbits and learning to spin. Of course I don't know anyone who knows how to spin, I wonder it there is a You Tube video about that. I'm off to look.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your hen, I know how that feels.
So sorry to hear about your losses. It sounds like, while tough, you made the right decision with Fanny. Hoping you get some warmer weather and that your new girl gets through her illness quickly.
ReplyDeleteFound this site, and it has a lot of info on different poultry diseases. Maybe it will help?
ReplyDeletehttp://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
Laura - the angora rabbits are wonderful! And yes, there are tons of YouTube videos for spinning. When I first started (a mere 2 years ago) it was on a drop spindle. I was shown once and then found videos to learn more. I will warn you, however, that it is a VERY addicting hobby!
ReplyDeleteRae - Thanks for the site. I will add it to my bookmarks. And thanks for affirming the decision I made with Fanny. Sometimes we just need to hear that.