Orphans

Sad.The Blondies' Silkie stepmom has disappeared.  There are no signs of foul play.  Not a feather.  I don't know what happened to her, or exactly when.  I've never lost a bird to a predator in the middle of summer.  Now I can be paranoid all the time. The Blondies have already learned to go in the coop, are hanging around the Silkie flock, are very clever about hiding in the bushes, and are feathered enough to survive, but it is a sad loss, even just to lose a good mothering hen.  They are without a champion to throw elbows in the food dish.  I suppose hunger will overcome timidity.The guinea hen in the sky coop also rejected one chick.  It was flopping around with a strange inability to stand or to hold its head up, like it has a neurological disease, or a broken back.The hen rolled it out to let it die, and HW demanded that I do something to save it.  I said "you stick your hand in that coop".  (He did)I tucked the little gibbled chick under the brooding Silkie in the Eggery, and it survived the first night.  I've seen a chick once with this weird disability, and it made a full recovery.  So there's hope, but I don't hold out too much.