We lost a chick yesterday – and by “lost” I mean “she died.” Fred noticed that she seemed slow and wobbly, more wobbly than the other chicks that is, and this morning he told me he was worried that she wasn’t going to make it. When I went out to look at them mid-morning, I saw immediately the chick he meant. She was just sitting under the heating lamp, not moving much. The chicks don’t ever realize I’m there until I say something, in which case they scatter all over the place, chirping in fear. This one didn’t even move, and when I reached down to touch her, she barely moved. I dipped her beak in water a couple of times, and she never drank. When another chick smacked into her in an attempt to run by, she fell over on her front and couldn’t seem to get back up. I set her on her feet, but she just sat and wobbled there. By the time Fred got home, she was dead.
Poor little chick.
We noticed another one was ailing last night and kept an eye on her and tried to get her to drink and eat, but when it’s a tiny bird, there’s really a limit to what you can do. This morning, she was dead. The rest of the chicks are looking bright-eyed and perky, so hopefully that will be the last chick we lose.
To tide you over ’til I post a video of myself sounding like a sheer and utter idiot on Friday (there’s something to look forward to!), here’s a video of the chicks and their reaction to being spoken to.
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The kittens are doing just fine, though they are not crazy about this new twice-daily dose of Doxycycline. Can’t say as I blame them, but once they get past the taste, they forgive pretty quickly. And then I put Terramycin in their eyes, and they’re like “Woe is me, and when will the suffering ENNNNND?”
But then the sun shines and they get happy again. Nothin’ like sunshine to make some happy kittens, I tell you.
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Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.