I adopted one hen after a flood. Tell me your chicken survivor stories with happy endings!

[gimmie birdies]

At the time in the 80's I lived in a small town by a river called Goldbar WA. There was a flood one day and my husband was helping a man gather his belongings before his house slid into the river. The man had a guitar in one hand and a fish tank in the other, they realized they could not even save anything at that point, and he dropped both and they ran out of the house. The house tumbled down the river and even the coop was swallowed by the river. A couple of days later we got a call and the man who lost his house, said he had one chicken left, and knew we had chickens and said we could have the one left if we could catch it. It was the only thing left at that man's house. The chicken was shy and hard to catch. But we did and brought it to our younger chicken's coop. They accepted this new hen, and she was happy not to be lonely. I think she was an Egyptian fayoumi breed.

I wanted to know of other survivor stories of chickens that had happy endings that people would like to share.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

(I showed her off in the "Special Needs Chickens Topic of the Week")

Here is my pullet that has had the hardest time. Her name is Shelly.

My Shelly was all shriveled in a cup (that was put in the package she was sent in) and was barely even breathing (when we got her). Two others were also in horrible shape. (They had a big problem at the post office) We all thought she was gone for sure, because Shelly was doing horrible. She couldn’t stand, walk, eat, drink, or anything. She kept throwing up and falling on her back. She screamed and threw herself into the walls of her container, and she couldn’t even keep her eyes open. One of her friends died that evening. She was left with one other unhealthy friend (Grumpy). Grumpy was doing better, so she got to go with the others, and Shelly was left alone.

The next morning, Grumpy was doing horrible. That’s when the force feeding started. About 3-4 times a day I would feed them and give them water until they had crops. I would get up at 4 a.m. to feed my little babies, and I would accidentally stay up for an hour. Oops! I put a little friend in their container to help them.

The baby at the bottom is Grumpy, Shelly in the middle, and that big chunk is Gus! He was very protective of Shelly. Then, a couple days later, my poor Grumpy passed away. Both of them were doing great! Cleaning themselves and eating and drinking, even walking by themselves, but for some reason, Grumpy just couldn’t go on. Shelly, on the other hand, kept progressing and getting better, and then she finally got to go with her friends!! Gus wasn’t happy because he wasn’t as spoiled in there! After all that, she struggled with feet problems.

I fixed that. Then, they went outside!! And Gus still claimed Shelly as his own.

Now my Shelly has crossbeak, so she is living with the polish girls (in their separated coop), along with my crossbeak polish (Booboo)-

and, Kevin (who is a pullet, don’t be confused by her name)-

So that is my Shelly’s story. She is now 7 months old and doing great! She really is a miracle.

^This is what she looks like now. She chipped her top beak, and now she can eat like any regular chicken. Kevin ended up doing the same exact thing.

Edited: to update pictures.

 

[WhoDatChick]

(I showed her off in the "Special Needs Chickens Topic of the Week")
Here is my pullet that has had the hardest time. Her name is Shelly. View attachment 2840712My Shelly was all shriveled in a cup (that was put in the package she was sent in) and was barely even breathing (when we got her). And two others were also in horrible shape. (They had a big problem at the post office) We all thought she was gone for sure. My Shelly was doing horrible. She couldn’t stand, walk, eat, drink, or anything. She kept throwing up and falling on her back. She screamed and threw herself into the walls of her container and couldn’t keep her eyes open. One of her friends died that evening. She was left with one other unhealthy friend (Grumpy). But Grumpy was doing better so she got to go with the others (because she acted lonely because Shelly was not doing good)! And Shelly was left alone.View attachment 2840714The next morning Grumpy was doing horrible. That’s when the force feeding started. About 3-4 times a day I would feed them and give them water until they had crops. I would get up at 4 a.m. to feed my little babies! And accidentally stay up for an hour. Oops. I put a little friend in with them to help them.View attachment 2840727 The baby at the bottom is my Grumpy, Shelly in the middle, and that big chunk (who was not that huge before he came in) is Gus! He was very protective of Shelly. Then a couple days later (after she drowned herself for some seconds (before I rescued her) my poor Grumpy passed away. Both of them were doing great! Cleaning themselves and eating and drinking even walking by themselves! But for some reason Grumpy just couldn’t go on. But Shelly kept progressing and getting better! And then she finally got to go with her friends!! Gus wasn’t happy because he wasn’t as spoiled in there! But then she struggled with feet problems. View attachment 2840735 I fixed that. Then they went outside!! And Gus still claimed Shelly as his own!View attachment 2840737But now my Shelly has crossbeak! So she will be living with the polishes (in their separated coop)! Along with my crossbeak polish (Booboo)-View attachment 2840739And soon to join them! Kevin (who is a pullet don’t be confused by her name)-View attachment 2840740So that is my miracle baby’s story. She is now almost 4 months old and doing great! She croaks like a frog but that’s just her!View attachment 2840741

Wow! What an amazing hen

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Wow! What an amazing hen

Thank you!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

One day, during a stop at tractor supply, I saw a rooster in the parking lot. He was dumped by somebody. After catching him, which was very easy, I realized how friendly he was. Chester soon joined my rooster-only flock. He was a great rooster who enjoyed the company of people, often following them around and perching on their arms. He even liked to be pet, and would approach people just so they would pet him.
Unfortunately I lost him in a predator attack a little while ago.


This next story isn’t about a chicken, but I thought I’d share it anyway.
About two weeks ago, I spotted a solid white pigeon with the flock of regular grays. I quickly realized from its behavior that the pigeon was released in a recent memorial and wasn’t wild at all. (“Release doves” are usually white domesticated pigeons that don’t know how to survive in the wild.) I was able to catch the pigeon and brought him home. He was skinny and had lice, but now he’s doing great!

 

[gimmie birdies]

Pretty birds!

One that croaks like a frog!

 

[gimmie birdies]

Oh I had one who had a cough once, it got better, but it sounded like she was saying "Chuck!" So I named her "Chuckwalla."

I also had crossbeaks before. One was from a hatchery, one I hatched like that, and one I bought from a lady knowing it was a crossbeak, but I was not afraid of the crossbeak.

 

[gimmie birdies]

We found a gray turtle neck dove that had crashed into a store window once, we took it home away from the city and kept it for about 6 months, then we moved to Eastern WA, and let it go, after seeing other wild doves that looked like him in the area. The dove used to sing whenever my husband would talk and he sounded like an owl.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

We found a gray turtle neck dove that had crashed into a store window once, we took it home away from the city and kept it for about 6 months, then we moved to Eastern WA, and let it go. It used to sing whenever my husband would talk and he sounded like an owl.

I saved a baby dove that got stuck in the chicken run (it’s covered). I have no idea how it got in there, but the chickens were chasing it around like crazy!! It took a little while to fly away because it was so tired!

 

[JustBabyMargo]

I saved a baby dove that got stuck in the chicken run (it’s covered). I have no idea how it got in there, but the chickens were chasing it around like crazy!! It took a little while to fly away because it was so tired!View attachment 2851637

Oh and this bird that flew into our window. He was almost dead. He flew in circles on his back. We let him rest and stayed out with him for like 4 hours! His mate even came and wouldn’t leave him for awhile. She just watched him look sad. We had to keep the cat away from him. But it was getting dark and we didn’t think he would make it. Until we went inside for an hour, came back out, and he flew away. His name is Mr. Bird. We still see him sometimes. He loves to come close to people.