She is still quite sick but eating and drinking very well. The vet called her feisty and believes she will make it, which is great to hear
Unfortunately her face is very, very swollen still, to the point that I cannot see her eyes from the front.. her eyes are attached to her sides like fish. Because of this, her vision is affected and she cannot aim for food. I would say she misses the food when she pecks like 90~95% of the time. It's okay though, we've been hand feeding her.
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She also kept shivering so we went to the pet store and got a heat lamp (for reptiles) and a nice perch (also for reptiles, lol) which she really loves. This way my arm can finally get some rest since she's been perching on my arm all day.
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She is really attached to me and my partner and will start chirping loudly when we are out of sight. She will also come and sleep next to us, leaning herself on our bodies. I think she effectively stole my partner's heart, too. The other day I found him with her on his lap, cooing to her in baby voice, going, "Who's a good chicken? It's you. Oh.. yes you are. You're the chiekn. It's illegal to be this cute. You're under arrest miss."
We want to take her with us but she cannot pass the veterinary health inspection due to her pox. So we are planning on extending our stay in Hawaii until she is better. My partner was laid off during Covid and I am working from home until September so we have some leeway.
I've also looked up how to bring her back to mainland, there seems to be a few options. Most airlines will allow "household birds" which seems to be an ambiguous term and I think it was purposely worded that way -- this would be the most ideal option. Apparently you can also ship chickens through USPS, but I don't really want to do that. The third option is to fly her on one of the cargo airlines. I was able to find an airline (Aloha Air Cargo) that will ship non-conventional animals to and from mainland with extra care and precaution. It seems that Aloha Animal Sanctuary also used this airline to bring animals into Hawaii, which gives me faith. So we are looking into this as well.
When she is better we will go back to the beach and see if we can find her family again. If not then we will take her with us
I will periodically update this thread until that happens.
. She is essentially blind due to the pox but will turn in our direction when we call her name. She also loudly chirps to demand food when she is hungry, and also loudly chirps every time she poops, as if to say, "I've pooped! Now clean it up!" LOL. Overall life is good. Thanks again for asking, it really means a lot.
