Whenever we reach inside to fill the water bottle or the feed dish, these two chickens come running. They never run away from our hands, even after we've picked them up and placed them back down. They walk right up for petting and sometimes even get in the way. Silly chickies!
Here are the two that seem to like us humans around. The gal on the left is a Rhode Island Red and the one on the left appears to be a Speckled Sussex.
Aren't they so cute?! We love our chickens!
If you may remember, last week one of the Americaunas flew up and out of the mini-coop and landed on the garage floor. Not the gentlest of landings either.
We thought we were going to lose her that first night, and even throughout the next day. She was very groggy and just laid limp in my hand. She couldn't keep her eyes open or stand up for very long either.
And worst of all, she wouldn't eat or drink. I was preparing myself and the kids to wake up and find a dead chickie laying in the mini-coop, but she suprised us all.
The next morning she was still groggy and she refused to forage for food or water at the feeders. I was so worried about her. Later in the afternoon, I started to hand-feed/water her about once an hour, and by the late evening she was looking much perkier.
The next day, she started pecking lazily at the feed, but was not aggressively eating like the other chicks. So, I continued to hand feed/water her until the next day. The next morning we came out to check on the chickens and saw that she was actively eating and drinking on her own. We were all so happy! And we keep getting more hopeful that she will grow stronger every day and that her fall wasn't too life threatening.
The only noticeable down-side for this little Americauana chick is that the lack of eating has caused her to experince 'failure to thrive' which has affected her growth, which we hope will be temporary. Currently she looks like the 'runt-of-the-litter' when compared to the rest of the chicks that were all hatched the same day two weeks ago.
Both of these chicks are Americaunas hatched the same day. You can see how much smaller the one is that had taken the fall 5 days ago.
Her wing feathers seem to have kept developing, but not the rest of her.
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