Anime2lover
Keeper of tiny dinos
- Apr 17, 2019
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Tiny was born healthy, late last fall. One of six chicks under a broody hen. She grew well and happy until our flock was hit with a nasty sickness that severely stunted her growth. It was to the point that we ended up taking her inside for personal care. She barely survived. She got better over about a month of round the clock care, even if she was never fully right after that. She was able to do normal chicken stuff, loved baths. But by the time she was healthy enough to go back outside, she was thoroughly disattatched to her flock. And she was still to small to keep herself warm in the middle of the winter, being half the size she should have been had she not been stunted. So she stayed inside through all winter. Giving her time to get used to, and even love cuddles, baths, and pets. She even learned her name and came to it. She loved being blow dried and fell asleep any time I did. As soon as we felt it was warm enough, we let her outside for day trips and introduced her to one of our bantam hens, who she quickly befriended. We did that for about a month before slowly integrating her into that bantam's flock. She lived with them happily for several months, enjoying the fresh clippings, bugs, dirt, and grass that comes with living outside. But when it was time to start introducing new chicks, she took a huge nose dive. She grew weak, unable to even stand up. The roo took advantage of that. Even if her bantam friend tried her best to defend my poor tiny. I used up most my chicken med to try and pull her out of it, but to no avail. So sadly, I made the call to have her put down.
In all truthfulness, she was handicapped. Never put herself to bed, never brought herself outside (even though she could walk well enough) she never learned to use a ramp. So we had to manually put her in and out for food and water. Never could walk truly normal (probably had brain damage from her illness as a chick). She was super friendly, peppy, loving, and excitable. Loved fresh carrots and corn, they were her favorite. And as short as it was, she did get to experience a relatively normal chicken life despite her difficulties.
Lesson: if you have a disabled bird, make sure they are in a flock that is small and you don't plan on adding to to much.
In all truthfulness, she was handicapped. Never put herself to bed, never brought herself outside (even though she could walk well enough) she never learned to use a ramp. So we had to manually put her in and out for food and water. Never could walk truly normal (probably had brain damage from her illness as a chick). She was super friendly, peppy, loving, and excitable. Loved fresh carrots and corn, they were her favorite. And as short as it was, she did get to experience a relatively normal chicken life despite her difficulties.
Lesson: if you have a disabled bird, make sure they are in a flock that is small and you don't plan on adding to to much.
