I have the cutest little family living on my farm right now, and I really want to share it with everyone, but it's going to take a little backstory.
Last summer my alpha rooster was caught up in an animal attack. It was pretty bad. He survived, but his leg didn't. I'd never fathomed the idea of having a one-legged chicken, and quite honestly I wasn't sure what to do. The first night we rinsed his wound with antiseptic wash and put him up in a crate with some food and water. I didn't expect him to last the night.
Well, he lasted the night. And he was grumpy. He wasn't going to give up without a fight. If he was willing to fight, then I was too. He ended up making it another night. Then he survived a week. We kept the wound clean while it healed, but we kept waiting for infection to set it, something. I've *never* has a amputee chicken survive, and my veterinarian wasn't going to do anything because the risks outweighed the benefits.
Around the ninth day I was late giving him breakfast and cleaning his wound, so he decided to start crowing to bring attention to himself. Against all odds, I was really beginning to root for the big guy. I didn't want to get my hopes up and fall into inevitable heartbreak, but dang it! He was just so willing to survive!
We started calling him Captain, because he was our one-legged rooster. Over the course of last winter, he had fully healed. I was shocked and more than a little relieved. We started to discuss options for his future. I tried two different kinds of prosthetic legs, but whenever he had them on he refused to move. He'd pout until I took it off, preferring to hop around on his remaining leg.
It was fairly obvious that he wouldn't be able to lead a normal life, but I was determined to provide the best possible alternative for our guy. Captain could no longer live with the gen pop flock. His place was taken over quickly by one of his sons, and life had gone on while he spent his time in Chicken ICU. However, I know that he missed flock interaction. When he was out of his kennel, he would hop over to the coop and hang out with his old ladies through the fencing.
Luckily, we have a nice 14'x8' pen that shares a fence with his old flock. The pen contained meat rabbit ladies, but it could work, right? My breeder bunnies go there when they are in off season, but the idea of housing Captain with my rabbits opened up an entirely new can of worms. Will they get along? Is it safe?
After an extensive googling session, I learned that rabbits and chickens can in fact cohabitate. I introduced Captain to the rabbits. No one cared, it could have been an average Tuesday for all they were concerned. (I clearly overthink things.)
It still wasn't as great as it could be, though, because I really wanted Captain to have the chance to be with another chicken.
Enter: Mama Nankin.
Mama Nankin is a spunky, feisty, firecracker of a hen. Only, she's super tiny. Ridiculously so. Some of the bigger chickens in gen pop were picking on her, and although she was feisty, there's not a lot she could do. I ordinarily don't keep bantams in gen pop, but I took her in as a favor to a friend. After her bio-security check and introductions to the flock, it became pretty clear that she was decidedly *not* going to fit in with my mixed flock. Decidedly as in she decided, because she kept picking fights with, oh, I dunno, Jersey Giants and RIRs. Go big or go home.
In a spur of the moment move, I placed Mama Nankin in with Captain, ready to intervene if needed. The looked at each other, Captain being his mild-mannered, grumpy grandpa aesthetic self and Mama Nankin squaring him up. I don't know if it was Captain's good looks or his chill aura, but Mama Nankin decided he wasn't a threat after all, and set about exploring her new pen. She was shocked to be sharing her home with rabbits, which she very vocally informed me of, but she adjusted really well.
Over the course of the last couple months, Captain and Mama Nankin have built a really strong, platonic bond. Mama Nankin is fairly protective of Captain at this point, and Captain is happy to have the company. Three weeks ago, Mama Nankin went broody in one of the rabbit hutches. Her eggs aren't fertile, so I replaced them with a couple eggs from my breeder flocks. Three Lemon Blue OEGB eggs and Three Blue Buff d'Anvers. Two days ago, we had three babies hatch.
To tell you the truth, I wasn't even considering what to expect out of Captain. He is a gentle rooster, but I assumed he'd be rather aloof. I knew he'd been a little lonely since Mama Nakin went broody, but from what I saw of him previously, he really paid no mind to chicks.
I was so wrong.
He was over the moon.
Captain hasn't been around chicks since his accident. He is SO happy to be around them now. He acts like they are his. He clucks at them and calls them over for food and treats. He watches over them with the help of Mama Nankin. These two chickens have come together to form a delightfully close bond and become surrogate parents for these chicks. Honestly, it's cuteness overload for me. I'm so smitten with my little family of five oddballs.
I'll post pictures soon. I hope everyone else is reeling from the cuteness as much as I am, but I could be completely biased because I love these two so much.
Last summer my alpha rooster was caught up in an animal attack. It was pretty bad. He survived, but his leg didn't. I'd never fathomed the idea of having a one-legged chicken, and quite honestly I wasn't sure what to do. The first night we rinsed his wound with antiseptic wash and put him up in a crate with some food and water. I didn't expect him to last the night.
Well, he lasted the night. And he was grumpy. He wasn't going to give up without a fight. If he was willing to fight, then I was too. He ended up making it another night. Then he survived a week. We kept the wound clean while it healed, but we kept waiting for infection to set it, something. I've *never* has a amputee chicken survive, and my veterinarian wasn't going to do anything because the risks outweighed the benefits.
Around the ninth day I was late giving him breakfast and cleaning his wound, so he decided to start crowing to bring attention to himself. Against all odds, I was really beginning to root for the big guy. I didn't want to get my hopes up and fall into inevitable heartbreak, but dang it! He was just so willing to survive!
We started calling him Captain, because he was our one-legged rooster. Over the course of last winter, he had fully healed. I was shocked and more than a little relieved. We started to discuss options for his future. I tried two different kinds of prosthetic legs, but whenever he had them on he refused to move. He'd pout until I took it off, preferring to hop around on his remaining leg.
It was fairly obvious that he wouldn't be able to lead a normal life, but I was determined to provide the best possible alternative for our guy. Captain could no longer live with the gen pop flock. His place was taken over quickly by one of his sons, and life had gone on while he spent his time in Chicken ICU. However, I know that he missed flock interaction. When he was out of his kennel, he would hop over to the coop and hang out with his old ladies through the fencing.
Luckily, we have a nice 14'x8' pen that shares a fence with his old flock. The pen contained meat rabbit ladies, but it could work, right? My breeder bunnies go there when they are in off season, but the idea of housing Captain with my rabbits opened up an entirely new can of worms. Will they get along? Is it safe?
After an extensive googling session, I learned that rabbits and chickens can in fact cohabitate. I introduced Captain to the rabbits. No one cared, it could have been an average Tuesday for all they were concerned. (I clearly overthink things.)
It still wasn't as great as it could be, though, because I really wanted Captain to have the chance to be with another chicken.
Enter: Mama Nankin.
Mama Nankin is a spunky, feisty, firecracker of a hen. Only, she's super tiny. Ridiculously so. Some of the bigger chickens in gen pop were picking on her, and although she was feisty, there's not a lot she could do. I ordinarily don't keep bantams in gen pop, but I took her in as a favor to a friend. After her bio-security check and introductions to the flock, it became pretty clear that she was decidedly *not* going to fit in with my mixed flock. Decidedly as in she decided, because she kept picking fights with, oh, I dunno, Jersey Giants and RIRs. Go big or go home.
In a spur of the moment move, I placed Mama Nankin in with Captain, ready to intervene if needed. The looked at each other, Captain being his mild-mannered, grumpy grandpa aesthetic self and Mama Nankin squaring him up. I don't know if it was Captain's good looks or his chill aura, but Mama Nankin decided he wasn't a threat after all, and set about exploring her new pen. She was shocked to be sharing her home with rabbits, which she very vocally informed me of, but she adjusted really well.
Over the course of the last couple months, Captain and Mama Nankin have built a really strong, platonic bond. Mama Nankin is fairly protective of Captain at this point, and Captain is happy to have the company. Three weeks ago, Mama Nankin went broody in one of the rabbit hutches. Her eggs aren't fertile, so I replaced them with a couple eggs from my breeder flocks. Three Lemon Blue OEGB eggs and Three Blue Buff d'Anvers. Two days ago, we had three babies hatch.
To tell you the truth, I wasn't even considering what to expect out of Captain. He is a gentle rooster, but I assumed he'd be rather aloof. I knew he'd been a little lonely since Mama Nakin went broody, but from what I saw of him previously, he really paid no mind to chicks.
I was so wrong.
He was over the moon.
Captain hasn't been around chicks since his accident. He is SO happy to be around them now. He acts like they are his. He clucks at them and calls them over for food and treats. He watches over them with the help of Mama Nankin. These two chickens have come together to form a delightfully close bond and become surrogate parents for these chicks. Honestly, it's cuteness overload for me. I'm so smitten with my little family of five oddballs.
I'll post pictures soon. I hope everyone else is reeling from the cuteness as much as I am, but I could be completely biased because I love these two so much.
