Chicken Whisperer?

Well, well, well.. where has the time gone? I hope all are doing well. This year has so far been full of surprises. Last Saturday, I go out to the chicken coop to get the girls taken care of, before I left for work. Lo and behold, I find Cluckster (pictured above) laying in the far darkest corner of the coop. She was trying to cluck to me as usual and it wasn't coming out, just her frail body was moving up and down in rhythm with her usual clucks. It was obvious she wasn't doing well. I rushed her into the house to warm her up, I gave her Baytril and Metacam. She was so very weak she didn't fight me at all when I had to open up her mouth to medicate her. I thought for sure that I was going to loose my sweet old Cluckster. By the way her leg felt, I thought perhaps she fell off the roost and broke her leg or twisted it, or perhaps the bumblefoot she has battled had moved up to the leg joint. I sweet talked her, while I held her next to me, finally, into eating some boiled egg spiked with ProBios and I mixed some Nutri-drench in her drinking water along with a bit of Terramycin. Though, I discontinued the Terramycin after one day. I've also been rubbing her leg and joint with Neo-sporin plus. Her comb is waxy and red now and she's back to her old cluckie self. Thank the good Lord that she is doing better. She is now fighting me every time I medicate and rub her leg with medication. I'm beginning to feel like a natural Chicken Whisperer. Cluckster loves it when I sing to her! Hahaha!

One of my wonderful pen pals sent me a "Chickens Rule" notebook for Christmas, to inspire my writing! I'm happy to say that I've finished my first rough draft of an article to submit to a poultry magazine. I've been talking to the editor via email and I'm fairly excited. There's no guarantee that I will get the article published, but, I'm going to try and try again.

Well, I'm off to bed... it is very cold, -22. I have a kerosene out in the coop to keep the girls warm. I do thank the Lord for his many blessings and provisions this year and in the last year. He truly has gave me more than I deserve. Why he loves me, I have no idea, but, I'm so very thankful.

Ps- I've been getting 5-8 eggs a day through this horrid cold weather. Not too bad for hens past the 2 year old mark!