Sweetie - do I never learn?
Posted: Sunday 9 January, 2011
I bought a batch of POL pullets in the summer. One of the Warrens never looked "right" and as winter progressed, she clearly wasn't coping with the bad weather. I called her Sweetie (I used to shout "Come on, sweetie" and she'd come for a treat). For the last month, I've had her in the loosebox, in the broody coop with the heat lamp on. She's been fed on layer pellets, poultry spice, sunflower seeds, mealworms (which she loved), porridge, sardines. She's been wormed twice.
On nice days, I'd put her out with the others but if it was cold, she'd just huddle down and shiver, so I'd bring her back in. When I put her to bed last night, I was thinking about posting on the forums for a wee bantam, for company for her.
This morning, she had collapsed and was clearly dying so Dan dispatched her. Why do I never learn? There was something not "right" about her - she had no comb, carried no weight despite special feeding. I should probably have culled her weeks ago but I thought if I could get her to spring and the good weather, she might be OK.
The cost of running a heat lamp for weeks plus all the extra feed probably negates half the egg sales her sisters generated - I guess I either need to toughen up or resign myself to the fact I'm never going to make a fortune at this game.
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Comments
Darren (Green Change)
I've done the same, and wondered the same. It is rewarding, though, on those times that you nurse an animal back to health and it becomes a productive member of your menagerie!
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claire
Monday 10 January, 2011 at 10:19pm
you have to allow yourself to love them too.
or you might just as well eat tv dinners from tesco.