Wally's Journal - A Rescue Hen

[HomesteaderWife]

Updates on the “champion” coming soon! She gets our award for best behaved bird! (Old trophy filled with treats, hah). Slow flock integration in progress- she’s been such a good girl. Feathers coming in beautifully- molting the old ones off and regrowing the softest feathers I’ve ever seen!

 

[orloffer]

Updates on the “champion” coming soon! She gets our award for best behaved bird! (Old trophy filled with treats, hah). Slow flock integration in progress- she’s been such a good girl. Feathers coming in beautifully- molting the old ones off and regrowing the softest feathers I’ve ever seen!

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Looking forward to the update! I'm glad the integration is going well--she sounds like such a sweet hen. I love the picture too!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

October 18th, 2020-
We're slowly introducing Wally to the flock. My hope was initially to move her with our male duck who recently lost his partner in hopes of keeping him company, but even though he bosses the other chickens around even now- he's scared out of his wits of Wally and she doesn't like him. We're hoping to get him a new duck friend soon, since it doesn't seem these two will make friends.
Wally's first meeting was pretty rough - the literal "pecking order" of the small group of hens we have has been tested (they're now bickering more often amongst themselves) and I'm wondering where she will end up in the line. She's still not in with them 100%- they're able to see eachother but not get to one another. We've let her down in the run a few times before the girls get out in the morning and she loves to peck around - she gets the happy hops and ducks her body down, stretching her wings and flapping/hopping around all excited like. You can't pick her up when she's in the run, and have to herd her/coax her into the day crate. It's not an issue though - she's opened up alot more than I expected her to, and I can't complain about how it is to handle her.
Beak rubs are still a MUST. I'd say about 90% of the time when I go to pick her up and take her to bed, she's fairly quiet and doesn't make a peep. She seems to genuinely like to be held and pet, and when I set her down for night time she will usually stand still and want attention and beak rubs. Always curious and watching what is happening - extremely alert when outdoors and usually (not counting the duck who's always first on alert) she's the first hen to notice any odd critter or bird.
Hoping to get another clicker soon and work on loading into the day crate by herself and maybe something else useful/fun (any ideas? Let me know!)
Feathers coming back in nicely and they're a beautiful, dark red and very soft!
Other than that, please enjoy some photos of the sweet Wally!

 

[BarredRockMom]

We love you Wally!! Feel free to tell her that you've been telling people all about how special, smart & beautiful she is!

My girls seem to like hearing that people ask about them & hearing stories. Some might choose to believe that they're just reacting to the sound of my voice without any comprehension, as we know it. I say that they use 100% of their brain power, so I believe that they do understand me. Wally understands you, too, I'll wager.

Her feathers are coming in well & they're so beautifully colored! She sure is a pretty girl! Too bad that she & the drake don't care for one another. And all that squabbling will subside in time, I am certain. The biddies in the coop just have a lot of grumbling & gossiping to do yet. They have a lot to say, have grievances to air & don't seem to be shy about letting you and everyone else know allllll about it.

It will calm down, as you know, but this is to be expected when introducing a new member to an existing flock. It's really sweet that she wants beak rubs each night as part of her routine.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

November 2nd, 2020

It has been nearly two months and Wally is officially in with the other hens. She’s still an outcast and has hiding places she keeps away from them at. But she’s the most sociable bird I’ve ever had. Starting on Halloween, she flies into my arms by herself to be put up at night and wants a nice big hug before bed. She sits on my lap and wants to be pet on, and she’ll stand on my leg while I’m sitting and stretch and preen. Can’t believe this rescue turned into such a love bug, but the again I can. (I had a cat who I adopted as feral and worked with, and he became a love bug as well, enjoying baths and purring if you blow-dried him afterwards. He loved to have his nails trimmed and learned to “sit”.)

Wally has those beautiful feathers almost all the way in. She was a very dull red to start with frayed ends, and now she has a dark chocolate color that is smooth and glimmers a shining green all over in the sun like a cockerel’s tail feathers. Her expression has brightened, and the turnaround of her personality in two short months amazes me.

Power has been out nearly a week here after hurricane-turned-tropical-storm pushed through and knocked the power out for so many in the state. We’re one of the last counties to be worked on from what they said. Very thankful all our animal friends and our family were safe after high winds. An important lesson for everyone- just because they don’t predict you to get hit hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared. Generators, lamps, lamp oil, kerosene- it’s all sold out. Grocery stores were closed with no power. People throwing out lots of food and living without heat right now. Most people left on the list are getting Nov 5th as their estimated time to get power back. So PLEASE if there’s any chance of a storm headed your way, don’t neglect to be prepared just in case. Have food, water, heat, power, light sources. Make sure you have plenty of animal feed. Be ready- because all we expected was a bit of wind and rain. Again, thankful Wally and all her pals are safe as typing this mobile.

I’ll try and get photos soon of the sweet girl, and will do a side by side photo of first few days compared to now when I can. Take care everyone and thanks for following with this sweet girl.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

An update photo!

 

[BarredRockMom]

Wally! Wally!! Wally!!! She looks fabulous! Thank you for sharing a life of love, plenty & companionship with her!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@BarredRockMom - Gosh thank you so much! We love this big girl and can’t wait to get my new clickers in and start documenting clicker training her to do some fun things. She’s such a huge baby- I’m really proud of her for being two months in and being the most loving chicken I’ve had yet.

 

[mviera101]

Thank goodness for kind hearted people like you ! Wally's a great looking and grateful chicken looking forward to updates.

 

[BarredRockMom]

Only chicken people understand that there's no cuddle like a chicken cuddle!! My current girls, as wonderful & entertaining little characters as they are, have never been very cuddly.

They still chit chat with me, watch & follow me around but don't want to get too close unless they are eating out of my hand.

So Wally being cuddly with you makes me very happy for you. Lol, I might just have to give my ladies a goodnight snuggle on their perch soon! Maybe after a goodnight treat, so as to avoid getting the stink eye!