Honey the miracle chicken

[lightm]

I want to dedicate this post to honor Honey, who passed away on December 14th around 4pm. She was 3 years and 8 month old.

Part I
It was March 10th, 2021 we brought 8 chicks home, not knowing the common suffering of production birds.

This is about two weeks later and Honey is one of them.

My husband named her Honey because she has always been a sweet sweet darling. This is them over a month old. Happy chicks.

Besides being the absolute sweetie, Honey has another super power: eat lots and lots of food, way over average of other production birds. I often find her with a huge crop.

August 11, 2022: stuffed Honey, bad feather condition.

August 26, 2022: Honey in the motion. Always the first one to get treats. Very agile.

Sep 17, 2022. A nice Honey mug. She rarely is still.

Oct 29, 2022: Honey on my right as Poopy is on my lap. Still bad feather conditions, sacrificed for producing too many eggs.

To be continued.

 

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Part II
January 2023, Honey is still lacking feathers, but it does not stop her from being a sweetie.

August 3rd, 2023, Honey found a dragon fly

and happily consuming.

My favorite Honey mug (always with a huge crop): August 9th, 2023.

Drinking wild water.

August 31, 2022. Honey was having difficulty laying eggs :-( The beginning of her illness. Here she is inside human coop.

September 1st, 2023, she was still trying to enjoy scratching.

As she kept declining from what we believe infections due to egg laying, we started to give her Baytril for 10 days (started 9/4/2023). Here she is, being weak but very sweet.

I wrote about this treatment here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-27151871
not convinced that she will survive. But she did!!!
Post about her getting better: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-27154734
She even laid eggs afterwards.
To be continued.

 

[Ecarroll]

January 2023, Honey is still lacking feathers, but it does not stop her from being a sweetie.
View attachment 4012203

August 3rd, 2023, Honey found a dragon fly
View attachment 4012205and happily consuming.View attachment 4012204

My favorite Honey mug (always with a huge crop): August 9th, 2023.
View attachment 4012206
Drinking wild water.
View attachment 4012207

August 31, 2022. Honey was having difficulty laying eggs :-( The beginning of her illness. Here she is inside human coop.
View attachment 4012208

September 1st, 2023, she was still trying to enjoy scratching.
View attachment 4012209

As she kept declining from what we believe infections due to egg laying, we started to give her Baytril for 10 days (started 9/4/2023). Here she is, being weak but very sweet.
View attachment 4012210

I wrote about this treatment here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-27151871
not convinced that she will survive. But she did!!!
Post about her getting better: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-27154734
She even laid eggs afterwards.
To be continued.

What breed was she? Such as sweet seeming girlseems she had a wonderful life.

 

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Part III

By October 2023, Honey was back to herself!

I love this picture where they are all examining the pomegranate.

Sometimes Honey took a rest too... (Honey is right by Inky's fluffy butt)

Playing in the mud with her bestie Poopy

Muddy feet afterwards...

Honey solo: I can be elegant too! (Nov 23, 2023)

Honey looking at her human servant: where is my treat?

However, February 2024, Honey laid lash material :-(

She behaved seminormal until April. Here she is feeling awful.

To be continued.

 

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Part IV

On April 6th, 2024. It took Honey a long time to come out of the coop in the morning. Once she was out, she was just standing on the ramp.
The next day it got even worse and that is the day she moved into the human coop. Originally she was very weak, and not eating. We thought she was going to die quickly :-(.

The we finally realized that Honey was blind. We don't know why, the best guess is nerve issue resulted from EYP. But once we figured out that she was blind, we started to hand feed her. Being Honey, she quickly came back to life with FOOD.

We quickly figured out a routine of hand feeding her. It was messy and not easy, but Honey was doing all right. On May 4th, she even took a bath outside and then sunbathed.

Honey's food station. She learned to walk there on her own and ate on her own.

At night she roosted here, even with a crop rest!

I was away from home May 9th to June 4th. I was very glad that Honey was all good during that time under my husband's care. By the way, he was a lot more emotionally attached to Honey.

Honey and Poopy

Outside with her old friends:

Honey is content.

TBC

 

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Part V

Honey even had a small molt in June. At the beginning of July, Honey's neurological problem seems to have worsened. She would look around with weird neck position and she was getting around not as good. She could still preen.

August 11, 2024

September 12th, 2024

Towards the end of September, Honey lost mobility :-( We made all kinds of beds for her.

Here is one

Here is a sling that was not so good (Oct 23, 2024)

She liked her pine shaving tub.

This is another one where there are two holes for her feet. She was not too thrilled about it and tried to get out constantly.

I spent hours on this one and it was working great for a good while.

On November 15th, 2024. Honey started to walk again. Perhaps all the Vitamin E and B that we fed her is finally working? We couldn't believe it and was so happy, thinking maybe Honey would be living forever.

Sunbathing

Lap napping with head tucked in. So sweet.

November 27th, 2024. Honey taking a dirt bath. (It turns out this would be her last dirt bath)

December 3rd, 2024. Honey standing on her food bowl, demanding her breakfast.

Unfortunately, being able to walk did not last. This miracle period lasted about three weeks. :-(

During her last days, Honey liked to sleep on the corner of the tub, with her wings up, and head tucked in.

This is December 13th, 2024. She was still eating vigorously that day. The next day, Honey would not eat at all and passed away around 4pm.

Honey, you brought so much joy to our lives. You were a handful. You were a special creature. You loved us. We will remember you forever.

The end.

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh gosh, I remember Honey and her crop issues! I am SO sorry Honey is gone @lightm I know exactly how difficult it is on the heart when they pass away. We get SO attached to them, intertwined in our hearts, it just shreds our soul for a while when they cross that rainbow bridge. RIP dear Honey. And I do hope your heavy heart heals soon.

 

[MaryJanet]

What a wonderful tribute to a genuinely lovely hen.

I'm so sorry for your loss, but I'm inspired by the loving care you and your husband gave her.

 

[lightm]

What breed was she? Such as sweet seeming girlseems she had a wonderful life.

Honey was labeled as a Golden buff, a production breed. I think very similar to Golden comets. You are right she did have a good life I think.

 

[Sally PB]

Fly high and free, beautiful Honey!

Hugs for you, @lightm.