Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Sky Is Falling!

*Another re-post from last spring - one more day til the root canal and I can hopefully get off the painkillers - thanks for your patience with me!*


At least that is what this little gal must have thought. Remember in my last post when I told you I did things half-assed backwards? Well, I do ALOT of things half-assed backwards. Like, um., putting the cage back together after I clean it. Well. Glen decided to move the cage a wee bit, and well, then like, um, out spills six baby chickens, a feeder, and a glass mason jar with a metal watering thingy attached. It was QUITE a mess. All the chickens fared well, 'cept this little one. I THOUGHT it broke it's leg. I can't quite figure out how, maybe the water bottle fell on it (perish the thought!), or maybe it just fell the wrong way. A four foot drop for a four inch chicken, well, that would be like me falling, what? 60 feet! (My math skills ARE improving!) I put it back in the cage, went in the office just long enough to print off the chicken coop plans (hopefully will be building this weekend), went back to check the birds, and those darn bully birds were pecking this one to death. I'm sure I've saved it from a gruesome, untimely demise. I put her in her own box, kept her warm all night and hoped for the best.

The next morning, I checked on her, and the poor thing had her little leg all balled up under her wing. She had dried blood on her, and her leg was stuck to the blood. Her knee jointed was terribly swollen and bruised. She tried so hard to eat, but kept losing her balance and falling over. Time for the Country Doctor! I gently pried her leg from her side and splinted it with a couple of toothpicks. I kept thinking that it wouldn't be healthy for her to heal all alone, and the other birds kept pecking her each time I'd try to re-introduce her to the flock. I wrapped that little bird in an old dishtowel and kept her in my hoodie ALL day. I do mean ALL DAY. I vacuumed with her, ate with her, did dishes with her, took my hour long walk around Lake Dale with her, went to the grocery store with her! (I avoided the meat department). I tried to put her to bed in her box alone and she, not sure what to call it...whistled? peeped? LOUDLY. I ended up sleeping with her in my hoodie for a few hours. Well, she slept. I didn't. Later that night I tried making a prosthetic leg for her out of toothpicks. It was SO funny. She couldn't walk on it though.

I named her Peggy Sue. Get it? PEGgy Sue! Oh, I'm so darned clever. I'm happy to report that PeggySue is healed, happy, walking and seriously kicking some bully chicken butt.

Thanks for reading. You are reading aren't you? *tap tap* this thing on? A few of you have emailed me. Are you able to leave comments? I think I have it set up so anyone can leave a comment. Please let me know if you can't.

22 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, this post had me cracking up! :)poor chickie...I am glad she is ok. I can just imagine how it must have been trying to sleep with her. And that splint. :) LOL You are a wonderful chickey mamma country doctor! :)

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  2. Oh Jayme, this is sooo you! How adorable and smart you are
    Lots of Love
    Bert

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  3. Chris (your Canadian Friend)July 7, 2009 at 5:23 PM

    OK, I FINALLY found your site again! I hadn't bookmarked it, but found it today via Facebook. Now I'm catching up and this post cracked me up! PEGgy Sue, I love it, and it's SO Paula Deen y'all :) I owe you an email, I know, I know, and will write soon- promise! P.S. LOVE the pic you took of Aaron.. Hugs...Chris

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  4. I'm here, tap tap, and I'm glued to the computer to see if Peggy Sue recovers!

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  5. I am really confused lol! I don't know if I am leaving a comment on an old post that you will never see or adding a comment to a re-post today. In anycase I love the bright yellow fluffy chick, was a a splash of springtime in a really grey gloomy day here. I am off to look at the Hatchery catalog, it think its time to order some chicks.
    Hope your root canal is fast and as pain free as possible.

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  6. Well, glad things worked out for PEGGY Sue.
    Hope you're feeling much better soon.

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  7. Oh....oh....lol. You remind me so much of somebody else.... ME!
    If one of our chickies was hurt or getting bullied, I got SOOO upset. sometimes even cried if one was sick. Oh how my four men and even my stalwart daughter tolerate me.
    One of our ladies ate one of those orangey thousand leggy centipedes that sting and she suddenly stopped eating,, made funny noises...and we knew it was the end...Oh how I cried. My tough daughter went out, put that sick gal in a recycle box, gave her liquid tylenol drops every so many hours and we waited. She recovered and got mean as ever.. :-) :-)
    It's just a hoot, isn't it? Once when we got some little Silkies, ever seen those??? SO adorable. they were being picked on by the bigger hens, and I would go out and give those girls a BIG lecture, but to no avail. WE ended up moving the little fluffies to the rabbit hutch, and then eventually got them to a gal who raised silkies. They were fun, but just couldn't survive with the big gals. And I just so enjoyed reading your funny post...PEGgy Sue..You so funny girl. AND clever. of course. Can't wait for you til tomorrow is over and behind you. TTYL.

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  8. Awwww, you are such a great chicken mommy! Adorable pictures. -Tammy

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  9. You give me such great ideas should I ever need to doctor my girls. Chickens can be so cruel to one another. I scold my meanies but they just ignore me and go about their pecking. Maybe some sort of surrogate Omega stuffed chicken would satisfy them? hmmmm.....

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  10. I'm still here! This post had it all; token chicken/peep, suspense, human kindness, everything but World Peace! I think maybe if everyone grew chickens there might be World Peace....

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  11. Your quite the nurse! Poor chickie, but a happy ending at least.
    Maureen

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  12. Your quite the nurse! Poor chickie, but a happy ending at least.
    Maureen

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  13. Poor chick!!! Do tell, how did she fare? Your vet skills seemed impeccable! (I totally get the Helen thing after seeing this You've had previous experience, girl!)

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  14. Jayme the chicken doc to the rescue... great (and very sweet) post.

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  15. Loved today's post! Sweet little chickie. Glad she survived. I'm thinking that just maybe this problem you are having with your "re-posts" not coming up for all your readers is probably a Blogger glitch. I tried all day yesterday to try and post a comment on Kelly's blog over at Chick N Charge and it would give me the word to verify, but no place to type in the word. Today...I can bring up my blog okay and even found where you had been able to post a comment to me (thank you!...always encouraging), but sometimes my feedjit would come up...sometimes it wouldn't. Also, I can't get to anyone's blog by clicking on the blog roll and when I tried to edit my blog roll it wouldn't do anything either. I'm glad that I saved the actual blog site addresses! Hopefully, this too will pass. Will be praying for you tomorrow...dentist appointment at 3:00! Praying also that you have a good night's sleep tonight. Please take care.

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  16. Oh Jayme,
    I'm so glad to meet you. I'm a 44 year old cowgirl-wanabe too. I have enjoyed your blog so very much. Please do drop by to see me for a visit. You have a beautiful ability to write!!!

    Yoli :)
    http://apronsenorita.blogspot.com/

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  17. Only you would make a split and then try to fashion a "leg" for a baby chick! This was a great post and I hope that all goes well with your root canel! The end is in sight and you will feel better!

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  18. I love your love of chickens... but you know that ;-)

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  19. What a strong little PeggySue. She is the sweetest. She thrived because of all your love and care. You even wrapped her up in a kitchen towel that matches her little yellow feathers!

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  20. Oh my goodness....I was so worried Peggy Sue wasn't going to make it! Yay for happy endings. I will make sure I have a hoodie and toothpicks handy when I do my photo op. And you on speed dial!
    You, girl, are hilarious.

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  21. Oh my gosh. Baby chickens are the cutest things ever. You've got me yearning for land and coops! Darn you.

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  22. Just found your blog today. Can you give us an update on this little chicken? Did her leg heal?

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