With all the heartbreak and devastation to our flock this summer, there is some good news.
Our Barred Rock chicken who was attacked the night we lost 3 other from our hen house is continuing to make significant progress. At first, she couldn’t use her legs and after a careful inspection that showed some scratches on her back, I thought that she might have sustained some spinal damage. She couldn’t move her legs at all.
Things didn’t look good, but because she was eating and popping, (she even laid an egg the day after the attack) I decided to give her a chance.
We constantly checked on her and had to right her when she’d fall over and couldn’t get back up (yes there were many, many references to the TV commercial.)
Day after day, we rolled her back onto her stomach after she had fallen over. She would patiently wait on her side, her head sometimes in the feed bowl, for us to come and pick her up. Several times a day I’d take her out for physical therapy sessions where I’d support her body allowing her to move her legs without weight.
Each day, we’d see a *tiny* bit of improvement.
Two days ago, she started moving her legs under her and she started standing.
Yesterday she began walking – in the morning, she could only walk backward but by the end of the day she could make some movement forward. She’s very wobbly and still falls over but for the most part, she can right herself and get back up.
While she isn’t quite strong enough to join the rest of the flock in the coop, at the rate she’s improving I don’t imagine it will take much longer.
And when she does finally go back to her coop mates, we’ll definitely have to come up with a name other than Gimpy for her.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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