Sunday, January 22, 2012

Kink in the Neck

This cute little hen can't hold her neck up any longer.  She is ancient, I have no idea exactly how ancient, but I've had her for around four years.  She was in a crate which was standing on end and full of tiny little chickens - Old English Bantams I was to learn later - who were waiting to go to auction in a friend's front yard.  I had stopped in to visit my friend and she told me someone didn't want them and gave the crate full to her.  She didn't want them and offered them to me.  I said sure, mostly to get them out of that crate.  I had no idea what kind of chickens they were, but they began to impress me as super-duper fly catchers as soon as I let them loose in my barn.  Prior to obtaining the Bantams, I couldn't walk through my barn with a cup of coffee without it being covered with black swimmers.  I only have a couple of the crate birds left.  They mated with my purebred catalogue hens and produced some smallish but very energetic roosters which I am still trying to catch.  My favorite way to catch the buggers is to put a bowl of cat food in the window sill.  The hungry cats jump up to get the food, but the nasty roosters zoom in to push the cats away from the food and proceed to eat it all, making for some very unhappy cats and very annoyed Maggie.  I sneak up behind them and clap my hands on either side to hold down the wings, hold them very tightly and toss them in the chicken room for "processing" later.  If I have heavy leather gloves on to protect me from the sharp talons, I can get them by the legs, in which case they squawk and flap wildly, which would probably scare any predator into letting go.  This little hen might have produced some of the pesty roosters I'm dealing with, but that's okay.  I'm sure she gave me lots of eggs (when I could find them hidden in the hay) and a few hen chicks, too.  I found her in the barn unable to hold her head up.  It's very difficult for her to forage for food and I'm afraid the other hens in the chicken room would be mean to her.  I keep her in a box in the heated room adjacent to the barn.  Her neck problem causes her head to rest leaning back all the time and she looks straight up at me.   A kitty occasionally jumps in to keep her company and drink her water.  I was delighted to find an egg in her box the other day, a thank-you for making her end years a little easier. 

1 comment:

Cornerstone Fibres said...

She is the sweetest little thing! Glad to see the kitties are leaving her alone and she is laying eggs!
HUGS
Kim and the crew