It's true-- if Derp was human, she would probably be considered handicapped. I hope that none of you are bothered that I make fun of her-- truly, I mean no negativity by it. Me, my husband, my mother, all of my friends, and no few people online ADORE Derperella. I treat her with all of the love and care that I possibly can and am constantly making sure that she's okay despite her addled brain!
We love Derp, and though there is something wrong with her, we think she's fantastic.
The other chickens grew and learned things. Sunbathing, dustbaths, bug hunting, jumping on each other... all of the chicken games and duties.
Then, about two weeks later than everyone else her age, Derp learned these things too.
And lo, was it one day that she learned to dustbathe!
At first, Derp was unclear. Sit down. Shuffle. What next?
Right. You should roll, next. Rolling around is important.
Am I supposed to be in the sand??
After several long moments of rolling around in the hard dirt (which is not the most suitable place for dust bathing), the Food Lady carefully repositioned Derp in the sand.
A lightbulb came on! And... whummpa-whummpa-whummpa-whump... dust bathing happened.
A video of Derperella, Dustbathing:
After showing the above story to a friend of mine, she was kind enough to show me Derp in Another Universe. We joked that it is her Transformation Sequence.
When it happens some really exciting trance music plays. It floats over the hills to my chicken coop and everything sparkles like in Sailor Moon.
Handicapped or not, I think Derp is extremely blessed to have been hatched to such a wonderful and loving person! Reading about her is a joy, and not in a mean way, but in a heartwarming, endearing way.