Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Steady Tank Decline

Our beta, "The Dude" was one of the first to go
This morning I chopped off the head of a "Cori" catfish. It was very sad (and a little gross). Catfishes are tough and it took awhile to get the knife through him.

It was a mercy kill- he was very sick, and like many of the other fish in my tank, I performed the beheading with the best intentions.

I've spent the last few months pulling "morts" out of our tank (that's fish hatchery talk for "moralities"). It is so depressing to have to use a pair of tongs to pull a rigor mortis fish off the filter intake, or to have to dig behind the fake plastic plants for a dead body. Can you imagine how the rest of the fish must feel to see the big green net descending- yet again?

What astounds me is that a degree in marine ecology, five years of water quality monitoring experience, and a summer of working at a fish hatchery has not equipped me with the knowledge to prevent these deaths. This is the second tank in two years that has experienced this "steady tank decline", as my wise (ass) husband likes to call it. I've medicated, filtrated, cognated and advocated for these fish, and still they die off.

I wouldn't want a tank so badly if our baby SJ wasn't so into it. The sight of the bright fish swimming (or, in our case, twitching in the throes of death) and the sound of running water immediately soothes and lulls her off to sleep (the tank is next to her crib).

Good thing I'm aspiring to be an inland farmer. If anyone has any advise, I'm open!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Thelma and Louise

Thelma Thunder Thighs
New hens! Two new birds were delivered last weekend by a friend of a neighbor and they are beautiful.

I read in my Backyard Poultry Magazine about incorporating new birds into the flock. The article basically said "out with the old, in with the new". This is in order to avoid disease and pecking, but if you HAVE to mix it up, let them duke it out through a fence first.

I kept the new lovely (and BIG) ladies separated for two days adjacent to the main flock so that they wouldn't kick my other chickens' asses.

Prissy strutting her skinny stuff
for the new ladies
Cora, a smallish White Leghorn cross, got her comb bloodied on the first day by Louise, the obvious leader of newbies.

By the end of the second day they had all made peace and I let everyone in the bigger yard together. There was a bit of flapping and posturing, but mostly they all played it cool and pretended the other group wasn't there.

Meet and Greet
Now they are best buds- Thelma and Louise crowd onto a deck with the other younger birds at night to sleep. They don't quite fit (especially with fatty Thelma, who I think must be some sort of Buff Cochin- she is HUGE).

I think the fact that I added two chickens and they were so much bigger than the others helped them integrate a little easier. Now, to get these big meat birds to lay eggs...