Ruth is a mama!!!!

ruth

Life is a Journey
12 Years
Jul 8, 2007
4,273
160
271
Woodville, MS
Well kinda. She sort of adopted the baby buff orps when I got them in August. She's such a good mama. She follows them everywhere and herds them to keep them together. When I would let the other big girls out of the run to free range she would always stay behind with the babies. Now they all free-range together - one big happy family.

p.s. for those that don't know the story of Ruth she nearly died as a baby and had to be force fed and then hand fed for weeks - had a twisted neck and could not stand or walk without going in circles and falling over. Just look at her now. This should inspire all those who have sick babies to just hang in there, pray, believe and NEVER give up.

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Isn't Rugh gorgeous? She really came into her own when I got those babies - seemed to give her something to live for. She began eating all the time, gained weight, grew feathers and a tail. She and the babies would have the whole run to themselves. She now has them sleeping in the big girl coop with her and the other chicks. She doesn't let anyone pick on them.

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She has only recently gained weight and grown a tail -though it also curves to the left a lot but she can straighten it and her neck. She's still only half the size of her fellow hatchlings (E.E.s) and the baby buffs are almost as big as their "mama" and they are only 8 weeks.

She's not as twisted as it looks in this photo - she was turning to move away.

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She is my only "pet" chicken. Here she is looking up as if to say "Yeah, what you want?"

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Wow I know you had said Ruth was small but now I can see how small. What a good mommy. Congrats. It must be much easier to find her with her orange babies around her.
 
Thanks all for the nice compliments - I'll pass them on to Ruth. She is a true inspiration. When she was a 4 week old baby and so sick she wasn't moving or breathing even my husband, who knows how I feel about the power of prayer, said "honey, that chick is dead, or mostly dead, and I'll take care of it in the morning". I had to pry her beak open and force feed her a liquid mush for days before she had the energy to open it herself. Yes, I know that is not recommended but I had nothing to lose by trying. Today she is 5 months old and her fellow hatchlings are starting to lay. I'm wondering if she will. But in any event she's adopted these babies and now has more energy and life in her than she ever has. Before she would just sit off alone by herself - an outcast and it would just break my heart.
 
That's a great story! I love reading about hens or ducks or other animals adopting and caring for someone else's young.

Thanks for sharing that!
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