Chicken Tails (Amusements and Anecdotes)

[KnittingChick3]

So, I have these chicken stories that I want to tell people, but my Facebook friends and co-workers can only handle so many before they'll start thinking me crazy (or crazier, depending on their current opinions of me.) So, I decided that this might be a more appropriate format and audience for the stories I have and the new ones as they arise. Stories that don't really fit in an article as they have no theme to tie them together other than the fact that they are about my chickens (or possibly other peoples chickens). There's also the added benefit of others sharing their own similar chicken stories instead of looking at me with glazed eyes.
So, here goes, in no particular order.

 

[KnittingChick3]

The Hen Saddle:
So, the hen we rescued from the car wash needed a chicken saddle.
"A chicken at the car wash?", you say. For the story about the hen at the car wash, check here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-town-found-a-new-home.1174351/#post-18488973
Fidget, as we named the car wash chicken, had a bare patch on her back above her tail and one under each wing, hidden where they weren't visible. I'm not sure what they were from, but the more I look at them, the more I think she came from a breeding pen.
The bare patches weren't a problem while she was in quarantine. I tried giving her some extra protein to help her grow those feathers back, but it didn't help.
I was worried when her quarantine was over and it was time to put her in with everyone else, that those bare patches would get pecked at by the others or that she would get scratched by our rooster, Walter.
Well, the other hens weren't a problem. Fidget is actually more dominant than all the others, so they don't mess with her. But Walter on the other hand, well that actually was a problem. So I made her a chicken saddle. I should have taken a picture of it before I put it on her, but I didn't.

(I'll try for another picture sometime, but there's a reason we called her "Fidget"...)

After some fiddling with the straps and the part between the wings, I finally got it so it fit her pretty well. So, I got the saddle on her and set her down in the run. She walked around for a couple seconds just fine, but then she shook herself and that saddle, which had previously been neatly tucked under her wings, popped up like a sail.
She saw that out of the corner of her eye and flipped out! She went running around the yard like she was being chased by the scariest thing known to chicken-kind. Every time she looked behind her, there it was chasing her. Just when she thought she had out run the scary thing, there it was flapping behind her like Superman's cape. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
After that initial shock, Fidget and the saddle got along fairly well. She's been wearing it for a couple weeks now and it doesn't seem to bother her. I really wish I had a video though of her running around the yard like some kind of chicken super hero, on a mission to save the coop and whatever else a chicken super hero does.

 

[KnittingChick3]

The Chicken Pancake:
I have a Buff Orpington who at the age of 6 months, thinks she wants to go broody already. (Is that normal? Seems young to me, but who knows what she's thinking.)

I don't want her to go broody, not until spring. So I pick her up out of the nest as often as I can to try and convince her that she shouldn't. Every time I set her down, she flattens out in what my daughter calls "the chicken pancake".

The others are like "Hey, what are you doing? Why are you just sitting there?"

She's plucked out her breast feathers and even when she's outside walking around, she's all fluffed up and growls at everyone. It's kind of cute and I'm tempted to see if she'll stick it out and give her some eggs to hatch, but like I said, I don't want chicks again right now. I feel like it's too late in the year and will be too cool for them.

She's taking up nesting box space too... I hope I can convince her to not be broody in the next couple days or I'll have to take a more serious approach and put her in the dog crate where she can't sit on a nest.

("You can't sit here, this is my spot.")

 

[KnittingChick3]

The Not-Amusing-Chicken Story or Goodbye Goldie:
Well, we lost our first hen. Goldie Hawn the Hen is no longer with us.

My daughter went out to do chicken chores one day and came back crying.
I'm not sure what happened to the bird. Everyone seemed healthy, no signs of disease. When I checked over the body, I didn't see any signs of injury or illness, no mites or lice, didn't feel any bound up eggs when I felt the abdomen, but I kind of wish now that I'd done an necropsy. The only thing that made me curious was that her vent was kind of bloody... Not like it had been pecked at, but more like... I don't know, maybe she'd gotten egg bound or had some kind of internal/intestinal problem.

Anyway, I've been keeping an eye on everyone and so far no body seems sick, injured or is acting differently. I guess sometimes these things just happen. Could be a hereditary or internal problem, could be anything I guess.
If anyone has a thought on the matter, with what little information I've given, feel free to respond. I thought about taking pictures, but didn't really feel like touching my phone with my "icky, dead chicken hands".