Chicken tales UPDATE!

The dozen day old Plymouth Barred Rock pullets I got this spring worked out wonderfully. I sold ten of them for a premium price at 12 weeks old, and kept two to keep some youth in my flock. The two I kept included an odd one. In the way zebra is black and white, so are the barred rocks, but I would have to say most are black with white stripes, and this one is white with black stripes.

I named her "Pet" early on, because she imprinted on me like no other bird ever has. She acted almost like a puppy from the time she was a few weeks old, and I have developed a soft spot in my heart for her. About two weeks ago, I noticed she was stumbling around, and literally walking into the walls of the coop. I though maybe she got into a bit of fermented feed, or maybe she was going to grow up to be a really stupid bird. She seemed to regain some equilibrium after a day or so, but still seemed just clumsy.

I finally got time to get out and play with the birds the other day. I love my chickens, but chicken ranching has become routine, and many days I rush out and distribute feed and water as quickly as I can, with hardly a "brrrk, brk, brk" at the ladies. It is harvest time, I am busy, and the birds do fine without me. But the other day I took some cracked wheat out and hand fed the girls, and as usual, Pet came running when she heard me step into the pen.

Now, I devoted my career to eye care. I have know the wonder of seeing someone's vision restored, I have seen the Creator heal the blind and been blessed to have not been a mere witness, but to have played a small role in this mundane medical miracle. SO it was that as Pet stumbled to me I knew from ten feet away that she was blind. Her pupils were no longer shiny and black, but blue-gray. A few old "tricks of the trade" and I found she has no vision at all in her left eye, but can still see bright color and motion in her right eye, for now. I know too well the course of congenital cataracts, and she will soon be living in total darkness.

Pet continues to lay eggs, and to get out and about every day. She is skittish, sudden movements frighten her. She has come to learn the other birds somehow, and the other Barred Rocks are kind and helpful while the leghorns try to steal the treats I take her. I guess chickens are racists - lol! The older hens from my first flock don't seem to care one way or the other, merely getting irritated when Pet stumbles into them.

The hen who has been with her since day one is especially attentive, as though they are sisters. It is the most amazing thing to watch, and she has been "shunned" by the rest of the flock for hanging out with Pet. The social interactions of these "bird brained" creatures are astoundingly "human" and cover the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The garden is going great guns, at last. Kind of slow starting this year, in spite of an early planting. The tomatoes are Pet's favorite treat, I suspect the bright color is as much a "treat" as the taste. She has no depth perception, and so always takes a few swings to the left before finally finding her food. I can't help it, I laugh. My heart breaks for this poor, blind creature, but it is still an absurd sight to behold. She is also a fan of the zucchini and yellow squash which are running me out of my yard. I got sick of them a month ago, so am happy to have an excuse to feed them to the chickens.

And so it goes on the chicken ranch. The Great Chicken Coop (the "p" is silent) progresses, entirely of its own accord. It is a joy to behold, people otherwise oblivious to the dire condition of our world have enough sense to get a few hens. That gives me hope, real hope.

UPDATE: I have been making arrangements for Pet to have a nice easy life. I know her vision is best in the shade, and that big bright colors are easiest for her to see. She has a bright food dish all her own, the water already has a red trough. These were moved to a spot where they are always in the shade. I was steeling my mind for the worst possible outcome; the eyes might actually rupture.

Yesterday I went out to give her a watermelon (she is my fattest bird by far!) and realized she was not swinging wide of the food... So I picked her up and had a closer look at her. The one eye is totally blind, but Pet caught an unbelievable lucky break. Her lens subluxed in her left eye. A cataract is an opacification of the actual lens, it is NOT something that grows over the lens. Her lens got too heavy for the little fibers that hold it up, and it tore loose and gravity pulled it to the bottom of her eye. Sounds nasty, but it is painless and it means she can see. Where light slips over the top of the lens now, she has vision. It is really fuzzy vision, like always looking "out of the corner of the eye" but she should maintain that for the rest of her little bird life.