It's very hard to believe, but we lost ANOTHER member of our "farmily"-like my new word!-yesterday. We aren't sure what happened but we came home from running some errands in the morning and the boys noticed that Rhoda wasn't around. We went looking for her, with a sick dread in the pit of our stomachs. All we found was about 6 or 7 different patches of her feathers. We never found her body and she didn't come into the coop last night when the sun went down. We can only assume at this point that she's no longer alive and something has taken her off. The crazy thing is that this all happened in the middle of the day, late morning actually. Jackson had gotten out and was still out when we needed to leave to go get J&J at basketball. Our first thought was that maybe he had gotten her. However, Jackson's M.O. in times past when he's caught something he's been chasing is that he brings it around to the house and leaves it. We figured that if Jackson was the "perp" then we'd find the body somewhere near the house, but we didn't. Honestly, I'd rather it have been Jackson than some UCP (unidentified chicken predator) that feels comfy coming during the day when goats and a barking brown dog are around! Again, where were the goats when all this happened? Honestly, the chickens and goats spend 99% of their day together. I can only assume that whatever it was chased the goats away to go after Rhoda. I can't imagine how stressful this must be to the other chickens. Do they even notice that their cronies are being picked off one by one? It was sad this morning because it was quiet...no Rhoda crowing at 5:30. Dorcas, Sacagawea and Rowen all were still in the nest at 6:45 this morning. They're ususally all milling around by 6 or so. Things are a changin' around here!
Rhoda is on the left (with Rowen on the right). This is an old picture. She was probably close to twice this size. She was bossy, but we still miss her!
Meanwhile, in the garage, Cheetah still hangs on to life. The responsibility of care has been transferred to Jonathan and Jeffrey. They're doing a very good job feeding her and changing the bedding in her box. Her neck seems a little stronger today, but we'll see what the day holds.
Meanwhile, in the garage, Cheetah still hangs on to life. The responsibility of care has been transferred to Jonathan and Jeffrey. They're doing a very good job feeding her and changing the bedding in her box. Her neck seems a little stronger today, but we'll see what the day holds. 
1 comment:
It's getting sadder and sadder! :-(
What ever you do, don't read Ten Little Indians! So glad to hear that Cheetah is hanging on, though!BTW, I like your new word. It's very fitting!
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