This is Hoppy, a golden-laced Polish/millefleur Belgian Bearded cross. He's just under two years old now. At six months old he was grabbed by a hawk, but it dropped him. I found him hiding in the coop that evening, with the skin over his breast literally dangling and unable to put weight on his right leg. Both legs had multiple deep puncture wounds and he was covered in punctures and lacerations. We got his skin stitched back into place and started him on antibiotics, but unfortunately he went septicemic and that really left a mark on him. Somehow we got him through that (his feathers grew in half white for a while), but he never did recover use of both legs and he lost several toes. So . . . I built him this.
The frame is made out of scrap pine, the wheels are model airplane wheels (you should have seen the look I got from the hobby store clerk!), the axles are piano wire. The parts of the frame that he can contact are padded with cotton batting and heavy fabric. The sling is a double layer of fleece with cotton batting, and it is slung from the frame on strips of torn bedsheet; inelegant, but surprisingly effective. He has food and water cups on the front.
During the day Hoppy scoots around on our front walk if the weather is fine, on the porch if it's rainy, and he has his "nephew" Quercus in a nearby tractor for company. He has gotten pretty good at going straight ahead, but the cart has no capacity for controlled turns (a significant design flaw, if you ask him). He can't bring his left leg underneath him at all, so when he wants to move around he uses what is left of his right foot as a push, and flaps his wings. He can get up a pretty good head of steam doing that. At night he comes in, gets taken out of his cart, and is put to bed in a plastic tub on the washing machine. He has the routine down by now; if I'm late bringing him inside, he scolds me, and he knows to lift himself off the ground a bit in order to be picked up.
Hoppy has tons of personality, and is an attention sponge. That he survived his injuries at all is amazing, but he and I made a deal: if he wasn't going to give up, then neither was I. He didn't give up, so here he is!
The frame is made out of scrap pine, the wheels are model airplane wheels (you should have seen the look I got from the hobby store clerk!), the axles are piano wire. The parts of the frame that he can contact are padded with cotton batting and heavy fabric. The sling is a double layer of fleece with cotton batting, and it is slung from the frame on strips of torn bedsheet; inelegant, but surprisingly effective. He has food and water cups on the front.
During the day Hoppy scoots around on our front walk if the weather is fine, on the porch if it's rainy, and he has his "nephew" Quercus in a nearby tractor for company. He has gotten pretty good at going straight ahead, but the cart has no capacity for controlled turns (a significant design flaw, if you ask him). He can't bring his left leg underneath him at all, so when he wants to move around he uses what is left of his right foot as a push, and flaps his wings. He can get up a pretty good head of steam doing that. At night he comes in, gets taken out of his cart, and is put to bed in a plastic tub on the washing machine. He has the routine down by now; if I'm late bringing him inside, he scolds me, and he knows to lift himself off the ground a bit in order to be picked up.
Hoppy has tons of personality, and is an attention sponge. That he survived his injuries at all is amazing, but he and I made a deal: if he wasn't going to give up, then neither was I. He didn't give up, so here he is!
and Barrdwing thats so cool what you did for the little guy im sure he really appreciates it
