On Friday I found one of our Barred hens with an apparent broken leg. I moved her to a rabbit hutch with food, water and bedding. I am hoping if she stays off of it, it might heal. I could try to splint it, but that seems intimidating.
On Saturday morning I found a dead adult hen in the barn. It wasn’t eaten in any way so I think it was chicken on chicken violence but not sure.
Also Saturday, while trying to take it easy and watching preseason football, a GBH showed up on the barn roof outside the window. I haven’t seen one in a while.
It was nice to see. It has been raining a lot here and maybe frogs are becoming apparent to the heron. Here is the rain gauge as of this morning.
I have been trying to take it easy because of my ankle. It became more painful at work on Thursday. You can see it is still swollen on the left side, but I am surprised about the bruising on my toes. Usually when I sprain my ankle it is bruised below the injury on the side, not the toes. I must have done a good job with this one.
The other news is I finished this book, which was a present. It was really interesting to me. When I started getting into making cocktails, I was enthralled by the mysterious liqueurs. Now I know more about their odd histories and the supposed medicinal qualities of them. Most of them were thought to cure most any ailment. It is amusing. Maybe I should try one to cure my ankle? And some for the hen as well?
sorry to hear about the bird on bird violence. I hate that sort of thing. that book sounds really interesting- seems like there should be a sprained ankle cure in there somewhere!!
Animal violence sucks but it’s hard to get away from. I will need to find the sprained ankle cure in it. The medical terms are pretty vague like ague, fever, weakness. So ankle sprain may not be listed.
I’m very sorry about your two hens! It’s bad enough to have one with an apparent broken leg, but even more sad, to find one dead. I hope the leg will heal.
What a treat to see the Great Blue Heron on your barn roof! They are so special. We see some occasionally along the highway from here to I-5. When we were in Idaho and would go. up into the Sawtooth mountains in the summer, we were thrilled to see flocks of Sandhill Cranes. They have such an unusual sound.
I’m guessing that your toes aren’t painful. I’m not surprised to see the bruising there.
Take care!
Thanks Jeanne. I am sad about the hens. Found one more dead hen in the barn this morning. She was identical to the other one who died. Not exactly sure what happened.
I love the herons, although I know they are eating the frogs that I also love. Nature is rough. I would love to see Sandhill Cranes someday.
The toes are not painful, just ugly.