For the Love of Buffy...

For a long time, we thought she had died of Worms...

Last june we had a little Crested Campbell duckling that we got from a hatchery (we didn't order her, but the hatchery gave her to us because they were sold out of any extra Mollys). I named her Buffy because of that cute little crest. She grew to about 2 1/2 weeks old, the took ill and died quite mysteriously...

But last night, while thinking about my favourite subject (poultry), it finally occured to me what really happened...

This is were I divide this post...

(with Genetic lingo)

There is a heterozygous gene at the Cr+/ locus that is Lethal. Ducks that inherit the gene en heterozygous will be fine, but ducks that inherit the gene en homozygous (Like Buffy) die after a little while...

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(without Genetic lingo)

There is a                gene at the            that is        . Ducks that inherit the gene                                      will be fine, but ducks that inherit the gene                          (Like Buffy) die after a little while...

Okay, that was a joke. Basically, Buffy died because she carried the crest gene in a double dose... which is deadly. RIP Buffy.

Namegame

Since I'm bored, let's find out what the meanings and history of the names of my animals are--

(Note: None of the following had anything to do with why a picked the names)

Let's do this bit of research in order of when I picked these names...

LUKE

The Dictionary is rather hazy on what this name means... But it's first use was St. Luke, a Christian Doctor who followed St. Paul around documenting his adventures.

ADELLAIDE

This is apparently a name from Germany or the Netherlands, and means Noble. Well I guess for a duck, winning Best-In-Show at a fair is pretty noble...

SULLIVAN

the Dictionary says Sullivan means 'Dark Eyes'. Say what?

EMILY

This name is based on an old roman word for 'Eager'. (Other translations say 'Laborious' or even 'Rival') 

MOLLY

The Dictionary states two possible origins for this name: One nice and one unspeakably not-nice. The positive one is that Molly is an Irish corruption of Mary (which means 'Shining Star'), which is in turn derived from the ancient hebrew Miriam (of the same meaning). The other one is that Molly is a name for

GEORGE

This is apparently an Old English name meaning 'Farmer'.

LAZARUS

Lazarus is jewish for 'God is my Help'

MARY

Again, this is hebrew for 'Shining Star' and is used for 7 people in the Gospels alone (? Most Popular baby girl name of 17 B.C. ?) and is probably based on Miriam (who was Moses' big sister).

MARTHA

Simply put. It means 'Lady' or 'Mistress'.

SALLY

"Princess". I'd say if that duck could be a princess, she'd be sleeping beauty.... z.z.z. ...

NELLY (Cornelia)

The Dictionary translates this old roman name to... 'Antler'?... or 'Horn'?

Interesting....

BECKY (Rebeccah)

This name is short of Becel. Just kidding. It''s short for Rebeccah, which means... 'To Bind'?!?

(Boy, these name meanings are getting weird...)

ANNIE (Annabel)

The Dictionary says this name means 'Lovable'. That's not so weird. Still it's far from fitting for that little snippity hen.

Spoilage names below...

(Continue only if you want to know what the names of my next wave of chickens are going to be...)

HYRAM

Hebrew for 'My brother is Exalted'. Just when I thought the name meanings were getting less bizarre...

SOLOMON

Yet another Hebrew name, meaning 'Peace'.

ESTHER

This one means 'Myrtle Leaf'. A named better suited for a plant than a chicken...

MATILDA

A name for 'Mighty in Battle'. How feminine.

Well, I've learned one thing from all this research: Don't look for name meanings. Ever. You only get perplexed. 

Molly's First Snow

It was Molly's First Snow.

Come to think of it, it was George's, Emily's, Sullivan's, Della's, Sally's, Paul's, and Jim's first Snow, too.

As well as all of the Chickens' first Snow.

Just a light dusting... But bitterly cold.