RIP Little peep

Unfortunately after looking like he'd made it around the bend yesterday morning and afternoon, I left yesterday to pick DH up and get a bit of shopping in and when I came back we found the poor little one had passed away.

Not really sure what specifically caused it though my suspicion is that the mum nipping him and having him on the edge of the nest instead of under her and warm, coupled with possibly having nipped him in the shell causing earlier hatch and bloodloss as the navel cord was so long.

Even more disappointing beyond the sadness of the loss of such an adorable little one is that the savy people of BYP had said he was definitely purebred Chinese - which means he was from my older pair most likely.

The new Wyandotte trio

Pic quality is not very good because we got back after dark, the lights in my quarantine shed give everything a funny tinge and I didn't want to stress them out too much after a long trip. So they are a bit lighter in natural light than the pics etc. But as I keep them in the q-pens for 2 weeks (gives them a chance to settle in stress free environment from the move, lets me observe them closely and ensure they have a preventative dose of sulphaquin, moxi etc) and am too impatient to wait to till I can take 'ideal' pics. LOL

So here they are - the new roo, quite pleased with him - no black in hackles or saddle, good broken gold on the breast, nice comb/workings/leader, no white in ears, even the black in the tail is brownish black, nice eye colour.The first hen, still have a ways to go compared to the bantams which are quite well developed in most plc*g* but they are quite nice little girls and very pleased with them. And the second little girl, who'd been broody when I picked her up and hasn't realized her eggies didn't make the trip with her. She's broke brood but will take a few days before she decides to resume laying.

Well... after last time's disappointment things have been both a bit down and a bit up.

The downside is that two of my young ducks have been lost, apparently to a snake at the dam biting them and the rest are temporarily banned from the dam. It's been suggested the most likely is a Tiger Snake, which doesn't thrill me given the highly venomous and pugnacious reputation they have - especially the idea of not only the ducks being possible victims but dogs and child as well. Unfortunately not having seen any snake but a copperhead (venomous but unlikely and generally not easily provoked) confirming it let alone locating it for removal is not proving easy. Besides being friendly little pets after hand-raising, they were also gorgeous youngsters I had high hopes for the next season.

On the upside, after being quite upset about not being able to get the Wyandotte trio I'd had my heart set on I had a good hard think about priorities and decided to sell off the Silkies and most of the OEGb (kept the pretty roo, cuz you know I need a rooster just to look at...) in order to buy these ones as it felt like an opportunity I'd regret for a long time if I passed it up. So tomorrow I will be going to pick them up! As well as this Tiger (SilkieX) is starting to act broody, so fingers crossed we might actually have some hatching sometime this year!