Not a good week on the farm

Friday night there was one buff orpington chick missing.  One of the pure bred 3 month old babies.  We looked around for at least a half an hour for feathers or any sign of her, but came up empty handed.

Two days prior to this we had seen a fox walk through the goat pen not too far from the coop, and since these younger birds were so small still and liked to go further back into the woods, I assumed the worst.

The next morning, I decided that we wouldn't let the birds out.  I felt bad because the chicken run really isn't big enough for all of the birds, but I didn't want to risk the younger ones getting snatched up again.  Unfortunately, the oldest didn't latch the door closed, and seven of the youngest birds got out so we were on a mission to collect them.

We couldn't find two of them for awhile and as we walked around again looking for them, the oldest found a small pile of feathers from the missing buff orpington.  It was only about 8 feet away from where the fox had been a few days before.

We ended up finding the two missing birds and getting everyone locked back up.  Later in the day when we had people over and there was lots of activity outside, I let the older birds out.  They tend to stay in the open yard and don't go back into the woods, and with all of the activity, I figured a fox wouldn't come around.

Soon after we let them out, the oldest carried BuffyToo over to me and said she wasn't moving around much and seemed dizzy when she tried to walk.  I set her next to the one of the pools so she could drink and then checked her out.  She had some caked feces on her rear end and her comb was pale.  She definitely wasn't moving around much and I wasn't sure if she'd gotten dehydrated in the recent heat or if it was something more.

Then Bubba's chest seemed so much larger than it had the day before.  He seemed to have more trouble walking as well.  I tried to help him throw up a bit, and he did, but he still just wasn't moving the same.

Later that night, BuffyToo hadn't gone into the coop, and instead we found her in one of the goat houses.  So I decided to bring her into the house last night.

When I went in to count the chickens, Bubba was laying on the floor, he'd died sometime after I'd put him in the coop.  The oldest dug a hole next to Poopers grave, and we buried him last night.  I feel so horrible for him and worry that he was hurting when he died.

This morning I gave BuffyToo a bath to clean her rear end and gave her some yogurt.

That's yogurt that I dipped her beak into

She didn't really seem interested in the yogurt, but did drink some water.  I remembered this morning that she was one of the five birds we got in our second group of birds last year, and the owner would not reply to my requests to find out how old she is.  I'm sure she's at least a couple years only, and I'm really not sure if she's ever laid an egg since I don't know who is laying and who is not.  She could just be old, or she may be sick.  I really have no idea.

I decided to keep an eye on her in the house today and I will pick up some medicine from the store today.  I hope she gets better, but if not, I hope she goes in her sleep from old age and doesn't suffer.

It's been a rough couple days on the farm...

The only good news is that Big Red is still alive.  She still walks like a penguin but I haven't been able to bring myself to have her put down since she doesn't seem to be in pain.

This post was shared on Thursdays @ the Homestead Blog Hop