Monday’s chook is full of woe…
This is Rackets, the first of the boys. You can see his crest is just starting to get loosey (when mature, the girls have afros and the boys look like potted palms). Not long after this picture was taken, I found him unresponsive in the grass and he died an hour or so later. No idea why. Very sad.
One lady on the chicken forums said she gave up on polands because they always reached two months old and fell over dead. I suppose I should be grateful it was only the one.
He was chamois colored, like Chel — the only color to repeat — but there wasn’t anything written on his shell, so I named him after Nick Rekieta.
If you don’t know the name, Nick Rekieta is a small-town lawyer with a YouTube channel. He occasionally does short explainers (here’s a good one on impeachment), but his stock in trade is live streams that go on for hours while he drinks whisky and reads lawsuits line by line. It’s surprisingly interesting.
It takes twenty-one days for a chicken egg to develop and hatch, and the incubator sat on my desk the whole time listening to Rekieta (AKA Rackets). When little Rackets hatched, it looked for all the world like he was trying to follow the sound.
Which…I dunno…could be. They learn in the shell, and mother talks to them when hatching time is near. I’d like to think he imprinted on Racket’s voice.
I’d also prefer he hadn’t died.
Posted: December 30th, 2019 under animals, birds.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Mitchell
Time: December 30, 2019, 10:14 pm
A sad Monday indeed – RIP Mr. Rackets.
Comment from QuasiModo
Time: December 30, 2019, 11:18 pm
Poor Mr. Rackets, R.I.P.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: December 30, 2019, 11:51 pm
My condolences for the death in your family, Stoaty. Especially with Rackets’ educational head start from the in ovo exposure to Nick Rekieta.
Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: December 31, 2019, 2:37 am
No Sadz! NO!
Now I feel bad for a chicken I didn’t even know, or eat!
sigh
Comment from gebrauchshund
Time: December 31, 2019, 4:58 am
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the chickens who died.
Rather we should thank God that such chickens lived.
Comment from caatnip
Time: December 31, 2019, 8:39 am
Oh, no, that’s terrible news, Sweasel. I wonder if the rain and damp was too much for him. Were you unaware the breed was fragile when you acquired the eggs? Poor chicklets, poor you, I hope his pretty little family members stay well for you.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: December 31, 2019, 6:19 pm
This was before the rain started, catnip. It was in a beautiful sunny spell in Summer. But that’s one of the reasons this damp spell has me so worried – they do appear to be fragile. And no, I didn’t realize that. I’d done a fair bit of research on the breed (I’ve wanted them for years), but that didn’t come up.
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