Monday, August 20, 2012

these ladies



OH dear.
Where do I begin.
Look at that stance.
Those feathers on their feet.
Fancy ladies I tell you.
The way they turn their head to check me out.
The camera clicking too.
This little photo shoot was clearly exhausting at times.

They're one month old now.
And you may notice there are only three.

Did I tell you I went into this saying I thought three was a good number.
We got four though because they said they don't always all make it.
Last night one of the girls died.
Charlotte hadn't been growing as big as the others.
She kept to herself a lot.
And suddenly she grew very lethargic.
I syringe fed her through the day and night.
But she didn't make it.

Sigh.  I don't like this part at all.

We noticed early on that her beak wasn't the same.
It was hooked and misaligned.
As she grew it seemed to get worse.
A google search revealed it 
can make it hard for them to get enough food unless they learn to work around it.

It was most sad for me.
The kids have rebounded rather fine.
It's that whole mom instinct needing to make things better
and feeling like I somehow failed her.
I know, she's a chicken.
But still.

And today as we changed out their bathtub incubator 
they had some play time out in the laundry room.
Seriously.  
Adorable.
They're instinctively perching.
Which makes the girls giggle.
I'm still smitten.
And so are they.

Counting my gifts...wishing I was more consistent with this, but at least I'm slow and steady
371. these ladies
372. making my ladies giggle
373. trials opening my eyes
374. a last day at the beach
375. a new beginning
376. fun etsy finds for homeschool
377.  schedules coming together
378. magnetic paint
379. the color aqua
380. swimming in the sea
381. a baby hippo
382. a cousin baby
383. one last trip to visit family
384. an exciting opportunity
385. resting in the unknown
386. green smoothies helping my aching body
387. school supplies
388. checking off the lists
389. trying to not let the lists overwhelm
390. a fifth grader
391. sleeping in 


2 comments:

Mommy Girl said...

so magical! whe will the first eggs come?

Jackie said...

Hi Raeanne, I kept wanting to reply to you by email, but can't seem to find a link on your blog. In case you check back, I thought I'd answer. They won't start producing eggs until they're about six months old. So somewhere around January. I have been learning a lot. One of the things that is super important is that I'm not to feed them the adult food until I know all have laid an egg. If I do and one hasn't, that chicken will get rickets, their bones will stop growing and they'll die. Important bit of information don't you think?

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