Silkie babies!

Well, these three little boys are four months old now and are ready to go... Looks like some nice lady is willing to take them, just need to call her today to discuss.

Kinda sad that out of five chicks, four turned out to be boys :-(

They are just SO cute and adorable, why can't they be girls!

Waaaaah!

I have 28 eggs collected so far for the incubation I'm starting in two days - so exciting! I've no idea how many are fertile, am crossing fingers to end up with a few sweet chicks at least... My friend who sold me Tyler last year said he sired more girls than boys so it will be a nice test on my end!

More news soon :)

Merry Christmas!

Jericho seems fine, I'm soooo relieved!

One of his eyes is a bit bloodshot and his comb seems swollen and lop-sided but other than that he's back to normal...

We had a nice cuddle and exchanged apologies.

Amen and thank goodness!

Now Christmas can be celebrated in peace :-)

This morning...

My sweet and gentle roo, Jericho, viciously attacked me completely unprovoked. Flogged me, spurs flying, trying to rip my hand off through my glove (I have the bruise to prove it).

I pushed him back three times before I completely lost my temper and beat him unconscious with a big plastic spoon (which broke in half).

I wanted to kill him.

Only when I saw him laying there, eyes swollen shut, bleeding, trying to breath with bubbles gurgling out of his beak did I come to my senses - oh my god what had I done.

I panicked, picked him up, couldn't stop wailing, ran outside with him in my arms to get my husband, my poor roo was dying and we had to put him out of his misery, I failed him, what the hell just happened there...

However the cold air must have revived Jericho as he started to open his eyes a bit, looking around, dazed and confused, his poor crest smashed and swollen...

After a few minutes he seemed to be OK so we put him back in the pen with his girls, he's walking around fine - tail up - but he's not touching food nor water and will not roost up on the pallet with his girls, which worries me.

He either has blurred vision or brain damage, for sure I gave him a mighty good concussion...

I feel utterly horrible, sad, guilty, remorseful - how can I do this to one of my pets, let alone one of my best ones? What the hell happened? I've had this boy since he was a day old last February 16th, he's never been anything but sweet and submissive and kind - and now today, out of nowhere, I was the enemy that had to be destoyed? WTF?

I over-reacted and he almost paid with his life.

I still don't know if he'll be OK or not.

Maybe I'm not cut out to be a mom. :-(

The circle of life :)

As comes death, comes life to replenish the energy cycle... 

and feed this mama hen's love of cute little baby peepers!

Come on, how cute are these?

Babies from my first incubation last March :)

Yes, I succumbed once again to the temptation and will be firing up an incubation of silkie eggs on Dec 30th! I've started collecting and rotating the eggs, not sure how many I'll end up with but it won't be that many I should think... Although the past two days I've collected 9 of them. Ooops.

I have a nice big forced-air Hovabator with turning tray, which I've used 3 times since I got it for my birthday last January. I'm totally way overdue :-D

But mostly, I want to secure some babies from Tyler - should anything ever happen and I lost him without having his progeny, I would never forgive myself, I'd be doubly heart-broken. He is truly one-of-a-kind, my absolute favorite of my entire flock. Hims my crazy lil'sweetheart, remember this video I posted of him last summer?

Awe, now I miss the little bugger,

have to wait until tomorrow morning

to "chat" with him :-D

Anyhoo. I've checked a few of the eggs in that pen and they're fertile, and he's the only roo mating with the hens (he is The Boss) so I assume any babies that hatch - god willing - will be little half-Tylers.

Moms are white silkies and white silkie/sultan mixes. 

Should be so! Cute!

I'll update once the incubation is on the way. Wooo!

Here we go again...

The time has come to bid our sweet Ember farewell, and send her over the rainbow bridge... I'm a terrible mama, she's been suffering for months but I just haven't been able to let her go.

She's visibly in agony now and we have no choice :-(

Her abdomen has been swollen like a water balloon fit to burst, she's been like this since last spring and I don't know what it is or how to fix it. I figured as long as she was roosting with the girls, free-ranging and eating normally I'd let her be.

The past two days she's been waddling around like a penguin, I can see her great discomfort with every tiny step she takes. She cannot roost anymore, she looks so tired... and she has a huge tumor on the back of her neck that the other hens occasionally pick at, she bleeds everywhere, it's horrible.

I adopted Ember in August 2009, I was her 3rd home and I have given her the best possible life all this time - so why does it hurt so much to say goodbye?

I hate this part of pet ownership, I really do.

And I'm angry at myself for hurting so much.

Thank you Vegas, my dear husband, for being the brave one - taking a life may be easy for some, but it's hell for us.

RIP my sweet angel...

You are loved, now and forever.

Sunday cluckle

Hotel Chook

As promised, here are a few pics of the girls (and boys) in their new winter digs!

Ti-Lou's group have the biggest space

since they are 23 birds in all

(notice proud Ti-Lou in front!)

Basically, two 10 x 13 stalls with a door in between,

plenty of space for everyone. 

Sleeping quarters on one side,

nesting boxes on the other.

Lunch time!

The photos don't show how nice and big the space is,

specially for me cuz I can stand up straight in it!

Not like the 5 foot high coop they were in before...

Jericho's group (13 birds) also have two stalls,

about 6 x 13 each - joined by a walk-through .

Proud Jericho with his flock o'girls!

Again, difficult to photograph the space

but it's very bright and there is plenty of room

for everyone!

In the corner is their sleeping pallet,

they all snuggle up there at night.

I would need my good camera with wide-angle lens to get a good photo but there is too much dust in the barn, I don't want to risk crapping up my expensive equipment for nothing soooo you'll have to use your imaginations, LOL!

Got everyone moved JUST in time.

We've been slammed with a huge blizzard the past two days and it's not over yet, still two and maybe three more days of snow to go! And it's bleddy freezing! :-o

Hope your birds are all safe and sound for the long winter ahead :)