Recently Noodle had been digging graves in the veggie garden. I was never sure as to whether he was preparing for his own imminent demise or if he had evil intentions to murder the younger rooster who had taken his place as Head Cock. The rest of his time, as befitting an elderly chook, was spent sunning himself in the garden or else eating the acorns that were scattered on the driveway. Occasionally he would take his favourite old white hen for a discreet wander down the paddock away from prying eyes. However a month ago she expired due to.... well I assume exhaustion. Since then Noodle had been spending much of his time alone, just keeping his hand in by digging the occasional grave.
4th April Noodle and a young five month old rooster I called "Cuddly" due to his penchant for smooching with me, didn't turn up at bedtime. Each night Cuddly would snuggle up with his siblings while Noodle had a perch in the hedge since he'd been kicked out of the hen house when he lost the "Battle For Top Rooster". Next morning there was no sign of them either. I checked the road, around the paddocks but there was no sign of feathers, guts, half eaten acorns, anything. Both birds had completely disappeared. Noodle was over ten years old but Cuddly was just five months so it is a mystery fit for Miss Marple. Although I have many roosters I am currently trying to re home these two were guaranteed a forever home here due to their lovable personalities.
In the meantime a couple of my rabbits have been slightly off their pellets. The feed company have changed the recipe and bunnies are quite fussy when it comes to their food. However I kept feeding these two bucks grass to keep them going and they seemed to be drinking and taking an interest in events going on in the rabbitry. However this Monday we had a large 5.1 earthquake at lunchtime and I never thought to go check on the rabbits as I had a meeting to attend early that afternoon. However when I went out later in the day Bumble, my blue three year old buck was prostrate on the cage floor, dying. Now he has never been the best rabbit since I bought him as a baby. Coat a bit dishevelled, very occasionally he would sneeze and have a snotty nose so I would isolate him from the others in case something serious was brewing but it never came to anything. But there was enough doubt there for me to decide not to breed from him and it looks like I was right as Bumble died yesterday afternoon. Always so sad to bury a pet and I also couldn't help wishing that Noodle had been around to help me dig the grave.
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