In Memory of Charmin

RIP Charmin the Silkie Rooster

Yesterday was a blurry whirlwind. I learned many lessons, most notably was the importance of forethought & preparedness. I'll have to go back to Sunday to tell the tale in context...

 My Sunday objective was to change the stinky birth bedding without getting my arm bitten off. The odor in the house monopolized my thoughts & narrowed my vision. I could only think of dumping the sheets & bleaching everything in sight. Lucy is a great dog she is an even better Mama. She & I connected in the brief week as much as much as we could, but I'm still new to her & the litter's safety is her #1 priority. About dusk she finally got up to potty ( we had food & water w/in reach of the whelping pool). I seized my chance & rushed in to change the linens & get a closer look at the puppies. What I didn't see coming was the Lucy who ignored the chickens the day before was having a postpartum mood swing. She took out her frustration on my beautiful white 4 year old Silkie rooster "Charmin". She took a bite then latched onto a wing. My husband managed to pry the rooster from her clenches. There was no blood & the rooster ran into the coop. We'd hoped he's shake it off, but Monday morning I found him dead. Very sad & my fault for not expecting Lucy to react differently to the chickens since her attitude towards me had changed. Thankfully we have a few of Charmin's little roos to pass along his flowing white feathers.

Monday morning was my first day back to the office since the puppies arrival ( I can see their birth becoming one of my life's time markers) I tried to get myself ready & chores done in time to be at work by a respectable hours. A task which should be easy but with 8 darling puppies to stare at for hours proves difficult. In my rush to get out the door I removed Charmin from the coop & figured I'd deal with him when I got back & had more time. My boss is very understanding & allows me an incredibly flexible schedule, so I was able to take Jasmine to work with me.(Thank you Teri!!)  I would only be gone a few hours & Jasmine was joining me so I figured, Lucy would be fine....WRONG! As soon as I came home I was greeted by the scent of Lucy's "gift". In my hurry to get it cleaned I quickly put Lucy out into the yard & went into hazmat-mode. When the room was sanitized & the whelping pool linens changed I opened the door to let Lucy in & saw the sea of white feathers. Lucy went barbaric on Charmin's remains  set aside to deal with latter....it was latter. She sported a mask of fluff as evidence. I took a deep breath & led her back to her puppies. It was Jasmine's turn for a walk to get her business done. As I reached of the leash I heard the heaving coming form Lucy. She threw bits of rooster up all over the whelping pool. Not only did I loose my beautiful rooster to my own stupidly, but his corpse was ravaged, I had to pick up parts of him from all over the yard & now partially digested parts of him form the whelping pool I'd just cleaned!!!!!! During all the commotion Jasmine's "holding-it" time limit expired & she pooped at the door. Again all my fault! (spoken like a good Catholic!)