Cool, thank you sunflour I had copied and pasted just the one which was above my query and link to my story thread so hopefully it should be OK. It is the one that starts 'HELP monster"
Ended Official BYC Mini Contest #2 - Tell us your best chicken story and you c
- Thread starter sumi
- Start date
Cool, thank you sunflour I had copied and pasted just the one which was above my query and link to my story thread so hopefully it should be OK. It is the one that starts 'HELP monster"
Well here is the story of Pepper the special needs Easter Egger cockerel
(sorry don't have a phone yet and that is the only photo i have of him)
well we started out with 5 EE chicks less than a month old.Blossom, Gypsy Brooklyn, no name (which is now Pepper), and Goldie they were very very happy chicks! Than they went down hill fast...my favorite chick Blossom was a happy little chick, but here and the others health slipped. They got sick and one day i came home and my Blossom wilted away into chicken heaven. The others were quickly fading away also, only Pepper was going strong! After a week or two of Blossoms death Brooklyn passed away she was a tiny little thing with lots of heart until her tiny little heart stopped to on her. I was devastated! As I regained hope with the others a sudden death struck...my Gypsy was a little perfect chick and I loved her until the end! It was down to two chicks, Pepper and Goldie both were cockerels. They were both healthy but once again Goldie's health turned for the worst.. i came home and he had went to chicken heaven. He was a feisty one but I loved that little bugger! Pepper the little survivor was the only one left all alone, no one likes him the rooster attacked him and the hens pecked him.I was the only thing he had left, the others left this earth and the rest rejected him like a CD player. He is a meracle! I was his only friend which is me! My cousin named him Moco at first but it didn't fit him! He got the name Pepper b/c I let him out when my grandma and I where picking peppers and Pepper decided to try a pepper and then i couldn't keep him away it was a workout to keep him away and that is how he got the name Pepper! Pepper is a real snuggler too! If you sit down on the ground when Pepper is out he will get in your lap and rest his head on your leg and fall to sleep! And how he loves when you pet him! One of the best things are , that the he comes when called and he follow you around! He has a scissor beak......so it is hard to eat and keep things down but some how he manages too do it but i have to clean his beak were it will not close he is calm when i do it b/c its a daily thing for us both. He does like to ride in my shoulder and arm! OMG just amagine all the snuggles i get!!!!!! Just here recently he has found a new friend (my older sister). She loves him! She was laying on the concrete with Pepper on her chest petting him, and all the sudden a Buzzard flew by and Pepper sounded the predator alarm! It was adorable! And know is attempting to crow!He is so spould!(he even comes inside the house!)
(sorry don't have a phone yet and that is the only photo i have of him)
well we started out with 5 EE chicks less than a month old.Blossom, Gypsy Brooklyn, no name (which is now Pepper), and Goldie they were very very happy chicks! Than they went down hill fast...my favorite chick Blossom was a happy little chick, but here and the others health slipped. They got sick and one day i came home and my Blossom wilted away into chicken heaven. The others were quickly fading away also, only Pepper was going strong! After a week or two of Blossoms death Brooklyn passed away she was a tiny little thing with lots of heart until her tiny little heart stopped to on her. I was devastated! As I regained hope with the others a sudden death struck...my Gypsy was a little perfect chick and I loved her until the end! It was down to two chicks, Pepper and Goldie both were cockerels. They were both healthy but once again Goldie's health turned for the worst.. i came home and he had went to chicken heaven. He was a feisty one but I loved that little bugger! Pepper the little survivor was the only one left all alone, no one likes him the rooster attacked him and the hens pecked him.I was the only thing he had left, the others left this earth and the rest rejected him like a CD player. He is a meracle! I was his only friend which is me! My cousin named him Moco at first but it didn't fit him! He got the name Pepper b/c I let him out when my grandma and I where picking peppers and Pepper decided to try a pepper and then i couldn't keep him away it was a workout to keep him away and that is how he got the name Pepper! Pepper is a real snuggler too! If you sit down on the ground when Pepper is out he will get in your lap and rest his head on your leg and fall to sleep! And how he loves when you pet him! One of the best things are , that the he comes when called and he follow you around! He has a scissor beak......so it is hard to eat and keep things down but some how he manages too do it but i have to clean his beak were it will not close he is calm when i do it b/c its a daily thing for us both. He does like to ride in my shoulder and arm! OMG just amagine all the snuggles i get!!!!!! Just here recently he has found a new friend (my older sister). She loves him! She was laying on the concrete with Pepper on her chest petting him, and all the sudden a Buzzard flew by and Pepper sounded the predator alarm! It was adorable! And know is attempting to crow!He is so spould!(he even comes inside the house!)
Four weeks ago, during a cold snap, one of my hens, Sweetie-the-not-so-sweet, hatched out 5 baby chicks and was moved into the designated broody coop. However, while she got the message to sit on eggs and protect anything under her from intruders, she missed the memo on caring for her babies and not attacking them as intruders. Two days later, she was still not caring for her now three little babies and literally flew the coop to rejoin the flock. Neither of my other broody hens would adopt the chicks, so into the barn went the heat lamp and baby chicks. A few days later, the power shorted and the water overflowed. It was three in the morning, when I had a nightmare that all my baby chicks were dead. I couldn't shake the dream and so I did what any chicken lover would do. I jumped out of bed and ran out to the barn to find my three little babies, soaked and shivering. It was the coldest night that month, I didn't have an extra heat lamp, and the power still wasn't working. With the mental capacity of a few hour's sleep, I took all three fuzzballs, placed them inside an old infinity scarf, and went back to bed with the chicks snuggled nice and warm. When I woke up, I couldn't quite remember all what had happened, but found that all of them were sleeping peacefully next to me. Later that day, with the heat lamp back on, and the water fount drip-free, the chicks went back into the brooder. All was back to normal the next day, except that the smallest one, a tiny thing I never thought would even survive hatching, began to flap and climb the wire walls of the brooder to jump on my shoulder and preen herself by my ear. Now, every time I go out there, Fennway chirrups, flaps up, and even tries to preen my hair from atop her new "adoptive" mama.
lol
A Rey of sunshine
Rey was a birthday present to me from my younger brother, I received Rey along with her 14 siblings (or more like, adopted siblings), eight Golden Laced Wyandotte's, and seven Partridge Plymouth Rocks, Rey being one of the Rocks. I loved those chicks, and I spoiled them. Alot.
When they were 2 weeks old (somewhere in there), I decided to make a cage in the existing coop so I could put the chicks in there so they could become acquainted with the adult birds. I put them in there and they were fine for a few days. Until Rey decided to go exploring, that is. Rey tried to slip under the wire of the poorly made chicken wire cage and proceeded to slice her back from the base of her tiny head to two thirds of the way down her little back. As she tried to get out, the wire stuck into her wing. My little sister found her, and came to get me. When I saw her she was half dead. I got the wire out of her and took her into the house, once she was out of the wire, she began to perk up a bit and start chirping.
We made an emergency trip to a friend, he was a veterinarian. He stitched up the hole in Rey's wing where the wire had stuck into her. He gave me a cream to put on her and said that she might have a chance. Ray spent the next few days alone where she could heal I put the cream on her frequently and she started to look a bit better. Since she was alone she enjoyed hanging out with people, and she would often sit on my shoulder while I walked about feeding the other chickens.
One day, I was in a hurry. I was going on a hike with some friends. I ran about feeding the animals a bit quicker than usual. When I got back into the house I put Rey in her rehabilitation pen and begin putting on my shoes. Rey wanted to be with me, so she jumped out of her pen and onto my head. My mother came in and saw me and gave me the ''what in the world am I going to do with you look''. I did not think she would say yes, but I asked my mother if I could take her with us on our hike. She said yes. I jumped into the car with Ray on my head, and paper towels, and a mason jar lid for water.
Rey happily rode on my shoulder during the hike. At the top, I tried to set her down to get some good pictures of her. Rey did not want to be away from me, so she followed me and would not let me get any good pictures of her. Oh well, I thought at least she is here. I forgot to bring food for Ray, so she ate some cherries and some sunflower seeds from the trail mix.
I had fun with her that day, and a few days later Rey and her sisters were moved out to a pen or they could eat fresh grass and enjoy the sunshine. I temporarily forgot about trying to introduce them to the other chickens.
Part 2
Rey and her sisters had a blast in the new pen. They enjoyed fresh grass, sunshine, and lots of bugs, they really enjoyed it. Ray still enjoyed it when I came out to see her and she loved it when I fed the animals because that meant she got to be alone with me.
When Rey was 10 weeks old, tragedy struck. One day I was out feeding the animals, and I looked down at the pen I saw something was amiss, so I ran down quickly. When I looked inside, 5 of the little pullets lay in a pile, dead. Rey lay off to the side with her head twisted under her neck almost dead. The rest of the chickens were happily walking around with not a care in the world.
I picked up Rey, and she lay in my hands without moving. I did not think that Rey could live through this, but after what had happened to her just 7 short weeks before, I decided to give her every chance I could. I set up a crate for her to recover in, but she just lay there. Mama said that she was in shock. I had found out that weasels suck the blood of their prey, and Rey was suffering severe blood loss.
In the days that followed, I had to feed her every little while, she could not move but when I put food and water in her mouth she would swallow. After one week of me feeding her, she began to be able to eat on her own, but I still had to feel her crop to make sure that she had enough food. After another little bit Rey was able to hold her head up better, and then, she could stand up. The next couple days, she could walk around if she leaned on something. It took her 3 weeks, but Rey was able to walk around by flapping her wings, though every now and again she would fall down.
After 4 weeks, I began putting Rey outside during the day so that she could eat grass and bugs, and hopefully get iron and protein. During the nights, I brought her inside so that she could sleep where she was safe from weasels. I had moved her sisters into the big chicken coop where they were safe from the weasels.
As Rey healed, I begin to see that things were still wrong with her. Her hip was crooked, and her wing could not tuck into her feathers like it used to be able to. I have a friend that told me she most likely fought the weasel and injured herself as the weasel held on, or that the weasel stepped on her when he was piling the other chickens up.
After 5 weeks of healing, I was finally able to turn Rey back out with the rest of the flock. After being alone for so long, she was scared of the other chickens, and wanted to be with me. But she eventually got used to them and today she still runs around with them and has gotten along with them for the most part.
A few weeks ago, I took her with me to a potluck that we had at a local brewery. Everybody loved Rey, and she became quite popular. She ate the watermelon from the fruit salad and the corn from the corn on the cob and enjoyed riding around on my shoulder and getting all the attention. As the sun went down she started to get sleepy, I set her down on the barrel, and took some pictures of her in front of the sunset she sat there until we went home. I enjoyed taking Rey places with me and I hope I can do it often. Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoy Rey's story as much as I have
Rey was recently featured as POW (picture of the week), and you can find pictures of my rey of sunshine here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-rey-of-sunshine.
Geez, and I said I was not going to enter and of these. Sigh.
Rey was a birthday present to me from my younger brother, I received Rey along with her 14 siblings (or more like, adopted siblings), eight Golden Laced Wyandotte's, and seven Partridge Plymouth Rocks, Rey being one of the Rocks. I loved those chicks, and I spoiled them. Alot.
When they were 2 weeks old (somewhere in there), I decided to make a cage in the existing coop so I could put the chicks in there so they could become acquainted with the adult birds. I put them in there and they were fine for a few days. Until Rey decided to go exploring, that is. Rey tried to slip under the wire of the poorly made chicken wire cage and proceeded to slice her back from the base of her tiny head to two thirds of the way down her little back. As she tried to get out, the wire stuck into her wing. My little sister found her, and came to get me. When I saw her she was half dead. I got the wire out of her and took her into the house, once she was out of the wire, she began to perk up a bit and start chirping.
We made an emergency trip to a friend, he was a veterinarian. He stitched up the hole in Rey's wing where the wire had stuck into her. He gave me a cream to put on her and said that she might have a chance. Ray spent the next few days alone where she could heal I put the cream on her frequently and she started to look a bit better. Since she was alone she enjoyed hanging out with people, and she would often sit on my shoulder while I walked about feeding the other chickens.
One day, I was in a hurry. I was going on a hike with some friends. I ran about feeding the animals a bit quicker than usual. When I got back into the house I put Rey in her rehabilitation pen and begin putting on my shoes. Rey wanted to be with me, so she jumped out of her pen and onto my head. My mother came in and saw me and gave me the ''what in the world am I going to do with you look''. I did not think she would say yes, but I asked my mother if I could take her with us on our hike. She said yes. I jumped into the car with Ray on my head, and paper towels, and a mason jar lid for water.
Rey happily rode on my shoulder during the hike. At the top, I tried to set her down to get some good pictures of her. Rey did not want to be away from me, so she followed me and would not let me get any good pictures of her. Oh well, I thought at least she is here. I forgot to bring food for Ray, so she ate some cherries and some sunflower seeds from the trail mix.
I had fun with her that day, and a few days later Rey and her sisters were moved out to a pen or they could eat fresh grass and enjoy the sunshine. I temporarily forgot about trying to introduce them to the other chickens.
Part 2
Rey and her sisters had a blast in the new pen. They enjoyed fresh grass, sunshine, and lots of bugs, they really enjoyed it. Ray still enjoyed it when I came out to see her and she loved it when I fed the animals because that meant she got to be alone with me.
When Rey was 10 weeks old, tragedy struck. One day I was out feeding the animals, and I looked down at the pen I saw something was amiss, so I ran down quickly. When I looked inside, 5 of the little pullets lay in a pile, dead. Rey lay off to the side with her head twisted under her neck almost dead. The rest of the chickens were happily walking around with not a care in the world.
I picked up Rey, and she lay in my hands without moving. I did not think that Rey could live through this, but after what had happened to her just 7 short weeks before, I decided to give her every chance I could. I set up a crate for her to recover in, but she just lay there. Mama said that she was in shock. I had found out that weasels suck the blood of their prey, and Rey was suffering severe blood loss.
In the days that followed, I had to feed her every little while, she could not move but when I put food and water in her mouth she would swallow. After one week of me feeding her, she began to be able to eat on her own, but I still had to feel her crop to make sure that she had enough food. After another little bit Rey was able to hold her head up better, and then, she could stand up. The next couple days, she could walk around if she leaned on something. It took her 3 weeks, but Rey was able to walk around by flapping her wings, though every now and again she would fall down.
After 4 weeks, I began putting Rey outside during the day so that she could eat grass and bugs, and hopefully get iron and protein. During the nights, I brought her inside so that she could sleep where she was safe from weasels. I had moved her sisters into the big chicken coop where they were safe from the weasels.
As Rey healed, I begin to see that things were still wrong with her. Her hip was crooked, and her wing could not tuck into her feathers like it used to be able to. I have a friend that told me she most likely fought the weasel and injured herself as the weasel held on, or that the weasel stepped on her when he was piling the other chickens up.
After 5 weeks of healing, I was finally able to turn Rey back out with the rest of the flock. After being alone for so long, she was scared of the other chickens, and wanted to be with me. But she eventually got used to them and today she still runs around with them and has gotten along with them for the most part.
A few weeks ago, I took her with me to a potluck that we had at a local brewery. Everybody loved Rey, and she became quite popular. She ate the watermelon from the fruit salad and the corn from the corn on the cob and enjoyed riding around on my shoulder and getting all the attention. As the sun went down she started to get sleepy, I set her down on the barrel, and took some pictures of her in front of the sunset she sat there until we went home. I enjoyed taking Rey places with me and I hope I can do it often. Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoy Rey's story as much as I have
Rey was recently featured as POW (picture of the week), and you can find pictures of my rey of sunshine here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-rey-of-sunshine.
Geez, and I said I was not going to enter and of these. Sigh.
Fun Chicken
In the Brooder
@CuzChickens, what a lovely story! She is lucky to have you, just like you are lucky to have her!!!
Why, thank you! I love being her mom and I am definitely quite lucky to own such a sweet girl!
Ooops, so posted that on the wrong thread; silly me
Gone now.
Last edited:
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