| Author |
Topic |
|
|
farmlife
1413 Posts
|
 Posted - Jun 08 2015 : 7:30:47 PM
|
Well all the farm chores must be making an impact with my kids. Last night we were filling up feeders, kelp, etc and I sent my kids over to see if the big water trough (300 gal) needed filled. They came back and said, "Mom, there's a chicken in the water!" We always count chickens when we put them in at night, but they rarely hold still while we do, so she must have been missed in the count. She was still floating and still moving (barely), but I didn't think that there was any way she could be saved. I started the "Well guys, mother nature can be cruel" speech but they wouldn't let her go without giving it their best shot.
Before I knew it we had a straw bed in the shop with a pen around it. My oldest crawled in and held the chicken while my other two held heat lamps on her. I went to do the milking dishes and came back to a chicken who was trying to stand instead of just shivering and laying on her side. I still wasn't sure she would make it, but as she dried she got better and better. Then she pooped which we thought was a good sign and in the next few minutes she laid a very wet egg. I was beyond surprised! We went ahead and left her in the shop overnight with the heat lamps and when I went out this morning she was perched on the edge of the pen like nothing had ever happened. She's back in with the rest of the flock as of this morning. It was crazy! Good thing my little farmers didn't give up! There's a good argument for a Bar Bar A waterer, too.  |
|
|
maryjane
7074 Posts
|
Posted - Jun 08 2015 : 9:21:13 PM
|
| Wow, Keeley, that is just the world's best accomplish in my mind, to raise kids who would do that. Give yourself a huge pat on the back. So inspiring on every level. Kudos big time!!!!! |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
 |
|
|
farmlife
1413 Posts
|
Posted - Jun 09 2015 : 9:16:04 PM
|
| It's good to have this experience to go back to when they leave gates open, etc. :) |
|
|
|
NellieBelle
11217 Posts
|
Posted - Jun 10 2015 : 07:36:59 AM
|
| Happy endings! How wonderful Keeley. How touching. Thanks for posting this experience. Glad Momma Cluck is okay too. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
|
|
|
CloversMum
3486 Posts
|
Posted - Jun 10 2015 : 7:55:24 PM
|
| What a great story. We had a similar experience when I found a chicken (which I thought was dead) floating in the goat water trough. I went up to the house to ask my oldest son to finish off the chicken ... well, pretty soon he is bringing in the chicken to our mudroom telling me that he thinks the hen has a chance. He did pretty much what your kids did, Keeley. And sure enough a few hours later that hen was just fine. Come morning she was ready to join the flock again as if nothing had ever happened! Sometimes our kids just know when to give another creature a little more time and another chance ... love it. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
|
|
|
txbikergirl
3197 Posts
|
Posted - Jun 11 2015 : 7:09:03 PM
|
maybe she was egg bound and without any humans handy to help she decided to solve her own problem ;>
GREAT story, thanks for sharing. |
_(199x300)_(66x100).jpg?v 93697001) Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
|
|
|
farmlife
1413 Posts
|
Posted - Jun 13 2015 : 08:56:25 AM
|
| Good theory, Cindy. Lol! Here I was just thinking she was a Speckled Sussex (the most curious and quirky chickens on our farm) and who knows what they will do at any moment. They are very much "pet" chickens. All of the girls have names, so my kids were saying, "But Mom, it's Jewel!" It could have just as easily been, "But Mom, it's Georgina, Cream, CinnyMinny, etc." |
|
|
|
Boots&Flipflops
499 Posts
Darla
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
![[flourish]](/images/flourish-txt_mobius.png)
Farmers in the making
![Heritage Jersey Organization [logo]](/images/HJO-logo.png){kind=logo}
