Ressurection story

[riddleluvsrotties]

Quote:
HOLY COW!!! lol, I missed the second half of your post the last time I logged in (curse of the three year old daughter!) but yes, that's the story that hit me when we found the little booger!!! I'm so very very sorry I missed your link the last time... It's been a long time since I read it... wow, I tell you, it still brings tears to my eyes. Your story, it's just so moving! God bless you and your family and your flock. How is everything?

 

[gryeyes]

It feels odd saying "You're welcome" because I certainly don't feel as if I've given anything, just shared my story about the day Minerva nearly died from drowning. She is still in my flock, still laying, and has gained some rank in the past 18 months since that incident. I've also moved, bringing the flock with me. Now, however, they all sleep in ONE coop, and she doesn't hide all day in the plantings. SHE gets to peck new chickens and remind them she's got more status than do they!

 

[MCBackYardGirls]

My mom and I have had that happen, too. It is the strangest thing.... ours was full grown, a white leghorn & she seemed to be frozen solid. We brought her in and put her in a box filled with hay and warm towels and by the end of the day she was moving and starting to be more like herself. It took her two days to completely "thaw out" and start eating again. It was amazing! They are so tough.

 

[riddleluvsrotties]

It's amazing how much these little birds can go through, and still be tough. Maybe that's what drew me to them in the first place, that and of course, the attitude. They're little rotties with feathers!
I set them on my "cheep" card table/laptop desk to hang with me and my kid, and they climb up and set on my neck like the pet rats... It's so cool!

 

[tweetysvoice]

That is so nice to see such a heartwarming story!! It breaks my heart to read the sad ones on here and then to come across a story like this makes me all warm and fuzzy!! Keep us posted on how the baby is doing!

 

[silkie4]

WOW! such a nice story.

 

[cjwaldon]

I had a similar thing happen to me. "She" nearly froze twice. Her feathers never grew in and I wonder if it was because of her near death experiences. She then got picked on and scalped by her chick mates and was brought inside for third round of R&R. Sadly, just as she was healing from that, something got in the coop when she was about 4 weeks old. I guess the angels really wanted this one back.

Please keep us posted. I am still curious if the lack of feather growth was related to nearly freezing.

 

[pgpoultry]

Well done to you all for 'going the extra mile' and doing what you did..

There is clearly an inbuilt survival mechanism to protect chicks from the elements as I, too have had a similar experience. A rookie hen hatched 3 chicks in a snowy March. She, however, wouldn't move off the nest, and pooped liquid broody poop all over them. When I came to feed her first thing in the morning, I found the ice cold, poop covered chicks, with one under her and relatively OK, one near her and moving a bit, and another a distance away and not moving at all.

I grabbed a nearby paper towel and wiped them, then shoved the stinking, cold and soaked little specimens under my 3 jumpers and high tailed the 100 yards back to the house.There I switched on the incubator and washed them in warm water. Perky one seemed good, next one a bit brighter, and coldest showed a tiny bit of movement.Whist the incubator was warming I placed them in a cardboard box on the stove."Perky" by now cheeping and disgruntled, next one a bit more active, but Stone Cold flat. As the temperature reached 90 degrees (pretty quickly as tI have a fan assisted incubator.....I placed them in. Perky cheeping and moving around immediately, next in line up after about 30 minutes and Stone Cold noticeably breathing.

Well one hour later and they are all up and running around, hungry and grumpy. So, I fed them chick crumb and gave them water in the 'bator and an hour on returned them to momma hen (after thoroughly cleaning her pen and bringing her outside to get used to the idea that she has to do a bit more than just sit on the chicks for them to thrive.

All 3 chicks made healthy adults.

Ah and I forgot to say, I then had a VERY long shower and changed the horrible, stinking clothes!

 

[riddleluvsrotties]

@ cjwaldon- I'm sorry to hear your little one didn't make it. I really don't know if the near death experience had anything to do with feather growth, but I'd sure like to know. I imagine it could have played a part in it, stranger things have happened. If you ever find out, please let me know. (I'll do some research too, and let you know if I come up with anything useful)

@pgpoultry- It's amazing, thank you for sharing with us. I'd only ever heard of this happning once before, and it seems like nearly everyone who's got chicken fever has had a similar experience. Chickens sure keep us on our toes. I stuck my 'frozen' chick under my hoodie, there's no shame in it lol. Poop washes off, death does not. On behalf of your three birds "thank you for sacrificeing your clean clothes to save three lives"

The two chicks are the freindliest little things I've ever seen. We spend a lot of time with our grown birds, but they are no where near as out going as the two chicks. They're both doing great.
I honestly think it's a little odd that they are in a big fish tank, but it's the best thing I have. We live in a drafty old house, and the tank was the only thing that I had that offered ventilation AND draft control. They don't seem to mind, but I can't help but think it's weird. Fish belong in fish tanks, chickens belong in coops. They have a day-time heat bulb at one end and a bowl under it for food (I wanted to be sure the chick feed stayed dry and didn't grow bactieria) in the middle, they have a small reptile continuous waterer out of the way of the heat, and at the closest end they have another food dish. I have a black light at that end for night-time heat, and I put it at the closest end on purpose, so I can peek in on them at night, without disturbing their room-mates. At the rate they are growing, they'll be too big for the twenty-long tank in a little over two weeks.
Any ideas on what I can do next? I'm very limited on space and supplies. I'm just too scared to move them back out yet, the worst of winter usually hits Kentucky in February and I was hoping to wait till after that to move them back with the rest of the flock.