I currently have three hens. Two Americana and one Buff Orpington. The Americana chickens lay a light colored blue egg and the Buff lays a brown egg. I noticed the other day that one of the Americana hens had escaped. No surprise seeing as my three year old likes to collect the eggs and does not always shut the door to the nest. So she jumped from two feet out of her hen house. My three year old went to pick her up too rough- he sometimes misses the hold and ends up grabbing them by the wings, where I quickly step in and help him with his hold. He put her back but then I noticed she was limping and her tail was down. A sure sign of pain from something.
That was two days ago. I have been checking up on her and slowly her tail feathers have lifted, showing me that it isn't so bad anymore, but she is still limping.
I ran a nice warm bath for her and placed her in the sink. I cleaned off her feet. She sat there like a queen not minding the warm bath. I put the towel on the counter and she jumped up and snuggled into the towel. I dried off her dinosaur like blue legs and took her outside for some quiet time away from my screaming kids, and nutty chocolate lab Henry who couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a chicken in our kitchen sink.
I went and sat with her with the towel, and gently turned her over onto her back. She didn't fight me as I really looked close to see if she maybe had a "bumble foot"- An open wound that sports an infection and can cause a great deal of pain on the bottom of their weird looking four pronged foot. The bottom of her feet looked to be in excellent condition.
So I started to massage very lightly up her leg that was lame... and worked my way up to her pelvis, all the while looking deep into her wise eyes for any sign of pain. As I reached the painful spot I could tell I found where she was hurting. She closed her eyes and her head relaxed against my thigh.... her head rolled to the side almost as if she was dead. I felt around the bone and the muscle and I could feel that she had pulled her upper thigh-butt muscle. I massaged it very lightly all the while watching her go into a deep sleep. If I had taken a picture of her you would have thought I had a dead chicken in my lap.
I worked my way back up to her foot. The minute I left the painful spot she opened her eyes begging me to go back to that spot. So I did, and once again her head dropped and her head rolled to the side and her beak slowly opened as if to say... "oh yeah thats the spot"
I slowly turned her around on her feet and she once again sat right down into my arms and snuggled into the warm dry towel. I took the moment to talk to her and pet her head... once again she rolled off into a sleep. Eyes closed as I stroked her head and body. All the while making a soft "brr brr brr" sound.
When I was done with cuddle time I put her back in the coop. She still had a limp, but her tail rose up as she took a few gulps of water. I opened the door and she came running over and jumped into my lap again...as if to say, ready for round two.
I get why people love birds. They are wise creatures that have oodles of personality. The problem that I find is that I live on a horse farm. I have three horses soon to be five, a dog, three cats, three kids and a husband. I wish I had that sort of time for each and everyone of my animals and kids everyday. I named my limping chicken "Bumble" the other two don't really have names yet sadly. But now I feel like I know this one on a personal level.
I just hope Bumble heals up quickly. I hate seeing her limp around- but I know she will be fine. She's a tough old girl.
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