Indy lost her rooster pal Elton earlier this year, and it was hard for us to watch her grieve him.  But Indy has always been a social butterfly and so we knew she would bounce back once she was ready.  We do have two rooster bffs who live separately and though they seem very interested in having her join them, we worried about them being too much for her and also potentially causing issues in their friendship.  So she gets to visit them through the fence.

But, Indy quickly joined the turkey flock and started sleeping with them at night.  She is particularly close with Louisa the black turkey and they are often seen pecking around the yard together.  It's fun to watch them all walk a path with their little chicken friend stepping in line like it's no big deal. Indy can be a little spacey at times and gets distracted; then once she realizes she is behind everyone else, she sprints adorably to catch up.  

Indy hasn't stopped there, though - she has also been spotted hanging in the barn with the sheep and sometimes our goat Edna.  The sheep have always loved the birds, especially Piper (we suspect maybe she grew up around chickens or turkeys in her first home) so we know they welcome her company.  

The new bird barn is finally complete - and Sherman has officially moved into his new "Love Palace" alongside roosters Jareth and Sebastian.  This gives everyone some much-needed space and allows Betty to come spend the night in Sherman's new place from time to time.  And both Sherman and the roosters have an expanded outdoor area that gives them more room for activities!

So much going on here! We are trying to finish up all our projects before summer hits and Jenna and Maisie are doing "their best" to help.

This new and spacious barn will give Sherman and Lousia a permanent home (rather than their current temporary space in the medical barn).  

Poor Elton passed away last night shortly after arriving at the Vet ER. He was fine yesterday morning and seemed off a little by afternoon and then just seem to be completely lethargic and losing his ability to stand by night. He was turning 8 years old but there is never enough time with any of our animals and we will miss is big personality, willingness to endure hugs gracefully, and fluffy feet.
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Indy is currently staying inside with us as she deals with the loss of her pal. So we will be giving her extra love and attention.

Here are the current health updates!

Once Sebastian made it through the night, we knew he had a good chance of recovery - though it would be a slow process.  Once he had a little more energy back, we brought his best friend Sebastian in to visit him.  We could tell how much it cheered him to hear his friend (though he still couldn't see him due to his eyes being swollen shut) and to do "normal" chicken things again.  They hung out for a bit and ate dinner near each other.  Hearing Jareth eat made Sebastian hungry and helped him to find his food on his own, though he still required hand feeding and watering for a few more days.  

Finally, one of Sebastian's eyes opened and his head started to heal.  He was becoming restless inside, so we let him have some time in the sun with Jareth.  

Sebastian had a bad day yesterday.  Probably the worst day of his life.  It was a very bad day for us too.  When we found him, he was unconscious.  We genuinely thought he was dead.  Tia the turkey had snuck into his area with her kids Rachel and Betty - something she had never done before.  Tia and Sebastian have had a long-standing feud for reasons we still don’t fully understand. While these tensions have existed for some time, we have taken steps to mitigate their ability to see each other through fences, which has helped tremendously.   However his outcome was far more serious than anything we had ever expected.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve noticed that Indy the hen has been losing weight, despite her usual  bright spirit. Concerned, our veterinarian ran bloodwork and parasite tests, but they came back normal.  Given that, the most likely explanation for Indy’s continued weight loss is cancer.

To get a clearer picture, Indy has been referred to Stahl’s Exotic Animal Veterinary Services for a CT scan. We are grateful that our trusted vet, Dr. Carothers (who took such good care of Miles and Quincy this year), will be the one caring for her. Still, we are deeply worried as we wait for answers.