Prize Chicken ate Ruby Earring!

[TipsyDog]

I'd wait for it to pass and if not, oh well. Bye Bye Ruby! I'd change her name to Ruby too.

It's just jewelry - not worth as much as a CHICKEN! But, I'm sure that's just how us BYC'ers think.... Your DH will just have to buy you another pair of earrings

and

from PA! Let us know what happens and good luck to you!

 

[cwc362]

Hope you get it back- don't know if the gold will be any good but the ruby ( i would think) will probably be unaffected. This is a great family story to pass down too !! Waiting to hear what happens! good luck!!

 

[Airilith]

Seems like the vet, crop surgery, and watching poop are your main options.

Please keep us updated!

 

[Darlasmum]

Welcome to the one earring club. I lost a pearl this way to my BR. I suggest a site to matchup all our missing earrings.

 

[franny]

I lost a pearl too...could see it in there and thought about doing surgery myself but...never did get it back. Ruby is worth alot more than a pearl...let us know what happens!

 

[kcsunshine]

Just remembered this thread - what happened?

 

[Opa]

I'd be will to pay $25 for that hen.

 

[alicefelldown]

Rubies have a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Among the natural gems only moissanite and diamond are harder, with diamond having a Mohs hardness of 10.0 and moissonite falling somewhere in between corundum (ruby) and diamond in hardness.

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. The hardness of a material is measured against the scale by finding the hardest material that the given material can scratch, and/or the softest material that can scratch the given material. For example, if some material is scratched by apatite but not by fluorite, its hardness on the Mohs scale would fall between 4 and 5.

So maybe good news if it's stuck in the crop?​

 

[Starscream4Ever]

I hope everything turns out for you.

But remember, nothing is more valuble than life.

 

[Jazbyre]

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for your replies and help. I realize now that what I should have done was immediately start feeding her bread with oil to try and flush out her crop, while the ruby was still in there. I didn't know it at the time, so I just confined her and checked her poops for a few days, unsuccessfully.

At that point I decided to set her free, and wait until it is time to butcher her to get the earring out of her gizzard. I seriously considered butchering her on the spot, but after turning it over in my mind for a few days, it just didn't seem right to me.

We grow our chickens for eggs, meat, and we do love them dearly. So I have no problem butchering our extra roosters, older girls, or non-layers. But butchering Big Momma (or should I say Ruby) for the sake of a piece of jewelery wasn't the right choice for me. If it was my engagement ring, I would have done it, but although the earring was expensive, it didn't mean as much to me as her life.

Our money economy has put people in a very weird space as far as "true value." My grandparents were dairy farmers, and used to milk 30 cows. But as time went by they weren't able to make it financially. To me, that is so crazy. Providing milk for hundreds of families isn't enough to support ONE family? Our society has gone so far away from respecting and loving the source of our nourishment, our farmers and animals. So to me, I try to live those values in my daily life. Even if Ruby wouldn't be worth $500, the eggs and chicks she will raise up in the spring have a greater GENUINE worth. Money is just a piece of paper, and somehow we have all agreed to let it run our lives.

That being said, had she been a less productive hen, she would be in the stew pot right now and I would be wearing my earring!

Love to all of you,
Jazbyre