Itty Bitty!

A long overdue update... Itty Bitty has slowly but surely pretty much recovered from her injuries. She worried me, but she sat in the back of the coop for about two weeks, and didn't move apparantly. In the enclosed section between the wire 'run' and the nesting boxes... the chickens NEVER roost back here no matter HOW cold it gets. Go figure. Anyway, she then started foraying to just out the front of the coop every other day - about 15ft - for water. And then she forayed out everyday... and now she's back with the flock. All in all it took her over 2 months to integrate back in with everybody.

We utilized lessons learned and did not segregate her from the flock. I was not concerned about the other chickens messing with her too badly as she a) was covered in blu-kote, and b) kept hanging out where the other chickens really didn't go except on their way to the nesting boxes. I can only assume that when going past Itty Bitty to and from the boxes they always had other pressing matters to attend to rather than mess with her - they were most likely either in a hurry to get that egg out, or in a hurry to tell everyone about their accomplishment.

However, it was a full two weeks or so after her ordeal before I could handle her well enough to see what was going on with her. She had a hole in her side (since closed up) and her leg seemed to be giving her problems, but nothing too big. Now it turns out that her leg was either dislocated and too swollen to seem too out of place, or it got dislocated in her rushing her healing process. Just try to control a wanderlust-stricken hen! I dare you!

So now she hobbles around with the flock, and goodness we should have named her Scrappy! She manages to get the first morsels of treats and retreats with them before everyone else notices she snatched it. She refuses to leave my toe ring alone and pecks the crap out of my toe whenever possible. She flew up into Acorn's face and stole the hotdog out of his bun... she also started laying again, and has permanently earned her place in the flock due to her overall pluck.

(I am hilarious, btw)

And she's almost fully feathered again!

All the chickens like to hang out under the barn quite a bit. And steal Zora's water (the grey bucket).

Venturing forth into the unknown.

Just a hint of blu-kote and quite a bit of new feathers, still partially sheathed.

You can tell her bum leg is turned in a bit (her left leg). Doesn't seem to be stopping her.