Now that the NH Primary is over, we have some time to breathe (things got a little crazy there at the end.)
I’m going to take this time to catch you up on the story of Gimpy. She was the chicken that was attacked this summer by (I think) our neighborhood Fisher Cat and her kits. The predators had killed 3 of our young chickens inside the coop and we found Gimpy outside and hiding under the coop.
It didn’t look good. Fisher Cats typically kill by decapitating their prey and that’s exactly what they tried to do to this bird. I was going to put her down but she didn’t look like she was in distress (even with a gaping head wound.) She was calm and although in shock, did not have labored breathing. The kids and I dressed her wounds and put her in a box with some towels inside the house and decided to give her a chance.
The next morning she was still alive and the one after that and the one after that. Although she initially looked to be paralyzed, with the help of physical therapy (I held her just above the ground so she could use her legs without weight on them) and lots and lots of time, Gimpy (she earned her name) started to respond. But she still had significant problems, one half of her didn’t seem to get the message of how to walk and so she severely listed to one side. If she got spooked, she’d spiral inward until she fell down. Many times we’d have to pick her up because, like the commercial, she had fallen and she couldn’t get back up.
But she survived and continued to thrive.
Because of our mild fall she roosted each night by herself in the rabbit hutch (which we use as our Chicken ICU) We had found that the other chickens tended to pick on her if we left her with them for too long.
But then the nights got cold – very cold – and we worried about a lone chicken roosting by herself. We made the decision to put her in the coop with the others and hoped for the best.
That was months ago. Last night Marc and I were talking about Gimpy. We noted that when we open the raised coop door, she can get out and she can get back in by herself in the evening, She now walks fine and the only way you can tell that she is any different from the rest of the flock is that she roosts on top of the nesting boxes instead of on a roosting bar. Other than that you would be hard pressed to single her out from her sisters.
It’s an amazing story from a valued member of our flock showing that with time and support, almost anything is possible. Who knew a simple chicken could be such an inspiration?
Gimpy is the Barred Rock in the center.
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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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