WHEW!!
Well, not abroad, exactly. But remember that i consider anything north of the Red River to be Yankee territory.
Which is, technically, abroad.
To me.
It was a rough go without them. The workload was doable, but i had rotten luck, so...yuck.
Suffered several chicken losses, mostly with the young, mostly to the heat.
Lost one of the little cochins, and the rest of Banty's chicks.
Pearl turned up with two new ones, so the meat hen and her two chicks were unceremoniously tossed out of the maternity ward, and Pearl & Co. were moved in. Pearl promptly contracted "fowl pox" (as opposed to chicken pox,) and went into intensive therapy to control it. She is doing fine, and her chicks do not appear to have gotten it. Fortunately.
We had rain one night, and i was trying to toss some of the brain surgeons that roost outside into the barn. When the chickens scattered, the does crowded around me to see what was goin' on, and trampled a pullet from one of Mama Hen's earlier broods. Had another "Blind chicken in the pan-try" for about three days, before it became obvious that she wasn't going to make it, and had to put her out of her misery.
One of the Bab's bit it on the road (saw the body this time,) and about the same time Jesse, Owens, and another Bab went MIA, and the remaining three Bab's finally joined The Bob's in the doe yard.
The worst of all of it though, was the loss of Lace.
Lace was our registered "foundation" doe, as Susan, Dear Susan calls her.
Lace has always had "issues." Having come from a vaccinated herd, her resistance has always been very low, and we have gone through one battle after another with her. This one took the cake, though. And Lace.
I never could get Lace back up to snuff after last year's kidding, so i took her and Moon Pie (she was fine, just needed a tour at Boot Camp) to Susan's. Susan worked them both over but good, and this year bred Lace to Manny the Manly Buck. They produced three kids, Glory, Genesis, and HRH The Princess Gidget. HRH Gidget is with us, although i have not made the time to properly introduce y'all. Will be doin' that soon.
After a long haul, Lace was finally looking good, Susan actually got a good picture of her, and she promptly developed a mystery illness.
I won't go into detail, but let's just say it was awful. Susan, Dear Susan valiantly battled what was first thought to be bacterial, and then viral infection. The war was waged for three weeks and included having to hydrate Lace every hour and a half to two hours because of the terrible heat. Lace was paralyzed throughout the illness, and at one point was blind. Susan and Bob constructed a hoist and sling gizmo to suspend Lace for physical therapy. They went above and beyond every step of the way, and Lace fought hard to stay. Finally, though, when a diagnosis was decided upon, and the progression of the disease told us that there would be no recovery, they put Lace down.
Thank you, Susan, so very much for everything you did for Lace, for giving up so much of your time and life to care for the old girl. Words will never suffice. You know the heart. I said to you repeatedly throughout, if she had been with me she never would have made it through the first week. You gave her a fighting chance. And fight she did. And you did. Thank you. Love.
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| Goodbye, Lacie Girl |
Between the sister herds, we have retained seven Lace girls: daughters Dosidoe, Moon Pie, Paris, Glory, Genesis, and HRH The Princess Gidget; plus granddaughter Splendora.
And Sparkin' Sparta.
Oddly, or maybe not so oddly, Sparta and Paris were on the "For Sale" page, and were the only LaceXMoon kids i ever had trouble placing. I always said i wanted to keep a LaceXMoon buck, but never did. Although they put me over my goat quota for the year, i quit trying to sell them and kept them in the herd, figuring there must be a reason i wasn't supposed to get rid of them. Guess now we know.
So there it is. Consider yourself caught up.
Let's move on to happier thoughts.
Shall we?
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