Five-month old Australorp suddenly lame. Update: Now another pullet going lame!

[mamajos]

I was thinking, kind of silly maybe, but it would make a great children’s story, about overcoming adversity. Sweet May is an inspiration, and she is an adorable chicken. Kids would love her!

 

[Byrd gal]

I think may should be the first Hollywood chicken. I would watch it and yes, cry at the end. You both never gave up so heartwarming a true love story.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

It's been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I teared up several times, and I'm not ashamed to admit it (I'm a very stoic person off the internet, if y'all can believe it). So happy things are looking up, and it's just fantastic how much knowledge has been collected and shared in this thread.

 

[Sally PB]

I teared up several times,

Like right now.

Hip, hip, hooray for MAY!

And so many hugs for @azygous !

 

[azygous]

Tonight I had put May in her bed and Su-su on her perch and finished squaring away the big crowd in the front coop, then finished the last of the chicken chores. Luckily, one of the things I do is to check the main run for any stragglers. There was May all by her lonesome, nibbling on a squash rind.

She had climbed out of her bed, flown down out of the rear coop pop hole into the main run, and there she would have been stranded all night. She can come down from a high spot, but she can't seem to get up to the pop hole yet.

So, May got carried to her bed, and I closed the pop hole doors so she wouldn't be tempted to do any more late snacking. This little gal is getting more normal by the day.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Tonight I had put May in her bed and Su-su on her perch and finished squaring away the big crowd in the front coop, then finished the last of the chicken chores. Luckily, one of the things I do is to check the main run for any stragglers. There was May all by her lonesome, nibbling on a squash rind.

She had climbed out of her bed, flown down out of the rear coop pop hole into the main run, and there she would have been stranded all night. She can come down from a high spot, but she can't seem to get up to the pop hole yet.

So, May got carried to her bed, and I closed the pop hole doors so she wouldn't be tempted to do any more late snacking. This little gal is getting more normal by the day.

Great update. It's fabulous that she had the agency and desire to get to that squash rind.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Hi azygous. As u commented the week before last, Texas sure 'nuff did get hit with a polar vortex. Complete with All time Ever record cold temperatures and rolling blackouts for 3 straight days. Was really tough keeping all my feathered boys and girls, plus dogs and goats, supplied with thawed drinking water all of last week. But i was already aware that your special care of May these past Months was also made even harder by winter weather.
During those very cold days last week, i read your post "May is walking." Made me soooo happy! And the words "May is walking" Still make me smile! How is team Azygous, May & Su-su doing this week? (And of course hillarious Pearl and all your other crew too). I hope all is well, & that May is continuing to recover.

 

[azygous]

Hilarious Pearl still manages to insinuate herself into every single activity in the Australorp Kingdom. Su-su mostly just rolls her eyes and rarely does anything about it. Pearl is the Forrest Gump of this story. By the way, Pearl is the only chicken out of the flock of twenty-one who has not yet molted.

It's difficult for me to see May's progress day to day, but when I picture how she was doing just a week go, her progress is significant. Her strength is improving and so is her appetite. She still has a self confidence problem, but it's understandable since she's so vulnerable. She is almost always glued to Su-su for protection, and Su-su patiently provides it without any hesitation.

I've been thinking about trying hydrocortisone cream on her leg. I have a tube of prescription strength my doctor gave me for my chillblains on my feet but it makes me homicidal so I figure to put it to better use if it can somehow help May. I have an older hen with a mysterious painful foot condition I am going to try it on as well. Today, I used it on both for the first time. We'll see what happens.

What happened to you all in Texas just had me nearly in tears. It's hard enough coping with such cold, miserable weather when you're used to dealing with it, but when you don't have the support structure for that kind of life threatening cold, and you lose power and other utilities on top of it, that's catastrophic. The so-called "leaders" in Texas should be brought up on criminal charges and thrown into prison. There is simply no excuse for what happened. I can say this because I own this thread and dammit, that's how I feel.

 

[Byrd gal]

I second that opinion. I was thinking of may yesterday wondering how she was. Can us fans get a picture of her?

 

[azygous]

I'll post some new pics tomorrow. More snow on the way. By this time each winter, I usually throw my hands up to the heavens and scream, "I can't take one more day of this $%^&! When I worked and lived in the southern desert, I could be heard doing this when it was still 117F every day into October. When I retired I traded one extreme for another.