Hi all...
Today is the 2-week birthday of my baby Norwegian Jaerhons. All arrived healthy from Ideal except one pullet, who had a spraddle leg. She scooted and flopped around the brooder, so my darling man named her "Flounder." I tried the band-aid method to fix the bad leg, but it didn't work. I went away for the weekend - the babies were taken care of while I was gone - and yesterday when I went to clean out the brooder I noticed that Flounder's bad leg was now extended straight backward. I tried to manipulate it, but I couldn't even budge it. Her spine was growing crooked and one wing had developed more than the other. It was painful to watch her.
Another one of the pullets seemed to adopt her and stand guard over her to protect her from the other babies.
It was so incredibly sad to see.
Last night I finally decided that the best thing to do was to put her down. Darling man and I discussed ways to do it. Do we break her neck? Do we use the axe? Some ideas were silly, some just horrible and not worthy of repeating. DM came up with the idea to use an old mayo jar and CO2 gas. I had to leave the garage after saying goodbye to my little angel and putting her in the jar. When I came back in the garage after just a minute, she was gone. I buried her in the backyard. I'm still tearing up thinking about her.
I KNOW it was the right thing to do. She would have had such a painful life. It's just hard...this is my first time as a chookmom, and this is my first loss...
Thanks for listening...
Today is the 2-week birthday of my baby Norwegian Jaerhons. All arrived healthy from Ideal except one pullet, who had a spraddle leg. She scooted and flopped around the brooder, so my darling man named her "Flounder." I tried the band-aid method to fix the bad leg, but it didn't work. I went away for the weekend - the babies were taken care of while I was gone - and yesterday when I went to clean out the brooder I noticed that Flounder's bad leg was now extended straight backward. I tried to manipulate it, but I couldn't even budge it. Her spine was growing crooked and one wing had developed more than the other. It was painful to watch her.
Another one of the pullets seemed to adopt her and stand guard over her to protect her from the other babies.
Last night I finally decided that the best thing to do was to put her down. Darling man and I discussed ways to do it. Do we break her neck? Do we use the axe? Some ideas were silly, some just horrible and not worthy of repeating. DM came up with the idea to use an old mayo jar and CO2 gas. I had to leave the garage after saying goodbye to my little angel and putting her in the jar. When I came back in the garage after just a minute, she was gone. I buried her in the backyard. I'm still tearing up thinking about her.
I KNOW it was the right thing to do. She would have had such a painful life. It's just hard...this is my first time as a chookmom, and this is my first loss...
Thanks for listening...
