Thursday, July 26, 2007

poor chicken little

The day before yesterday we found that one of our hens appeared to be in trouble. She wasn't moving a lot and standing kind of like a penguin .... with her butt on the ground and legs far apart. We watched her and she was eating and drinking and walking with a weird penguin-like waddle. None of the others were picking on her, which is unusual because chickens can be cruel that way. We left her overnight, but yesterday she wasn't any better. In fact, she had become listless. We thought maybe she had an egg stuck and couldn't pass it. I held her in my lap awhile and massaged her tummy, but couldn't feel an egg. I hand-fed her some water and she perked up a little. Our neighbour suggested we put her outside for a while, so we pulled the almost completed chicken tractor over to the garden area and put her in. Just then, for good luck, a ladybug landed on her back. That was a good omen.She seemed to enjoy the warm sun and did have a bit of an appetite. We started to think that maybe she was hurt in some way, so left her there all day. Art made a nest for her out of a cardboard box and some hay, and at bedtime we put a tarp over the tractor.

Today she is looking a lot better. Her legs are back underneath her and her tail is up in the air again, where it should be. There were some monstrous piles of poop around, so maybe the poor dear was just constipated. Who knows. I'm just glad she's OK.

1 comment:

Way Out Wear said...

How's our little chicken doing?
Hope all is well.