The Circle of Life

I try to keep things lively and upbeat here at Robin's Nest, but alas, just as raising plants and animals can be wonderfully rewarding and exciting, sometimes it is also unfortunate and sad. In the last week we lost one of our little chickies and my favorite of our chinchillas, Buttercup. Our little chicky wasn't much of a surprise. It was the third to be born and never seemed quite right. It had a rather bulbous bottom and it took a long time for its feathers to fluff up. We thought after a couple of days it seemed to be getting on track. It's feathered started looking normal and its bottom seemed to shrink, but then it never really progressed from there. He/She finally stopped eating after about a week and nature took its course.


Buttercup on the other hand had a problem with her teeth, and although it had been going on for a little while, we didn't think it was anything fatal. She was also preggers, so we waited for her to have her babies to see if the problem would correct itself afterwards. We finally started talking about finding a local vet that sees chinchillas, but she didn’t make it. Luckily our other chin, Yeti, had recently also had a litter and took in Buttercups babies without incident. The poor girl is going to have her work cut out for her raising 5 babies with only two teats!

Well, that's about it at Asbury Farms for now. Your regularly scheduled happy posts will resume shortly. That is, until our baby rooster matures...