So sad

This morning when I got to work, one of our little ducklings was dead in the cage :( The other two looked a bit under the weather as well, along with one of the chickens. I removed the dead duckling, cleaned out the pen, changed the food and water and set about watching. Within an hour one of the other ducklings started falling over and having seizures and then died suddenly. He had been eating and drinking fine one moment and the next he was gone. Luckily my students were at Specials, so they did not witness it. I set up a little quarantine box for the sick chicken and duckling, convinced that both would be dead within the hour as well since they were falling over and lethargic too. Well, they lasted all day, and the chicken actually started to perk up a bit. I thought maybe we were out of the woods, and decided to bring them home to watch them over night. On the drive home the duckling started having seizures and died in the box on my daughter's lap :( The chick seems like it's doing alright though. I had even stopped at our vet to see if they could figure out what was wrong with duckling, but they do not treat ducks and didn't know of any other vet in town who did. I have combed the internet, but don't have a definitive answer as to what went wrong. Now I am debating as to whether I should run to the Feed Store to get some replacement ducklings or try to explain to my kiddos about the ducklings dying. At this point they don't know as I kept the quarantine box covered so they thought all 3 ducklings were in there. Such a sad, sad day.


As if that wasn't enough, as my kiddos were leaving out our back door today they almost stepped on this little guy:



He had apparently fallen out of his next which is up in the wall by the roof.

At first I just left him alone, thinking he might fly away on his own, but an hour later he was still sitting there and there were no bushes or anything around for him to hide in from predators. Since so many of the kids saw him as they left school I worried about them coming back and messing with him too. I ended up getting a ladder and returning him to the nest, but I worry that he might fall out again, although when I got him up there he disappeared deep into the wall.



Anyways, rather horrible day all around, I just want to curl up in bed and pretend it never happened. Do you think I should go get the new ducklings or do I tell my kiddos that they all died?



7 comments:

K. Mo said...

That's awful! My good friend got 125 eggs from the 4H club to hatch at her school and they only had 12 successfully hatch. One was born with his intestines on the outside of his body and he died the first night. The 4H ladies gave her a few from a different school's hatch to add to the lot so the kids wouldn't be so disappointed at the turn out but it must not be a good year for poultry!

❤ Karen
flamingofab@gmail.com
Flamingo Fabulous in Second Grade

Kimberley Moran said...

So sad. I am so sorry for you. Pretty traumatic.

Kimberley
First in Maine

Elizabeth said...

So sad...I'm sorry :(
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Elizabeth

Fun in Room 4B

Miss Squirrels said...

I am so sorry Jennifer!
I don't know what I would do...I don't know if I would do the switcharoo or not. Do they all look alike? Do you think they will know?
Staci

Going Nutty!

misssquirrels@yahoo.com

She (Sprinkle Teaching Magic) said...

Oh no! This is really sad. What a day! You deserve to curl up and take a break : ( I hope things look up tomorrow. I will defiantly be thinking of you.

Sheila
Sprinkle Teaching Magic

Kerri Buckner said...

What a terrible day! I'm so sorry. I'm not sure what you should do. Part of me thinks you should talk to the kids about what happened. It's a natural part of life as sad as it is. One of my teaching buddies had a goldfish in her room last year and it died over the summer. When her now second graders found out about it, they had a funeral on the playground for the fish. It included a cross and everything made out of sticks and flowers. It was really sweet the way they handled it. I hope things go better today.

Sarah Plum said...

I would be honest. Death is a natural part of life, and unfortunately, it's probably already touched several of your kiddos lives (and will certainly touch others in the future). Handling that discussion in a safe and caring environment and allowing them to experience all of the emotions it brings as a classroom community could really help some of them develop healthy coping skills and to feel closer as a unit.

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