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Lynn in Bristol

Comb-less chicken!

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Haven't posted for ages, but need to share yesterday's dreadful events.

 

We (and probably most of the neighbours) were all woken up extemely early yesterday morning by a huge commotion in the garden. Husband went down to shut the girls up by chucking some corn at them, and completely failed to notice all the feathers inside and outside the run. I went down and did a quick leg count, saw that the feeders and drinkers had been knocked on the floor, refilled them and put them back. We put it all down to an early morning fox visit (small discussion as to whether door to large run had been left open - unresolved).

 

However, when I got back from the school run, I let the girls out and noticed poor Rue, our white star. Her normally enormous floppy red comb was no longer there, what was left was just a mess of dried blood. Odd thing was, she seemed to be behaving totally normally, just got on with her morning scratchings.

 

Realising I had foolishly let my husband have the car, I then started trying to track down an understanding friend who could drive me to the vets (a true friend, I have now discovered, is somebody who will jump out of the shower, dress, drive round to your house and get you to the vets by the end of morning surgery, which is less than half an hour away).

 

Vet, after admitting slight surprise at what I pulled out of a very large cardboard box with 'Christmas Decorations' written all over it, cleaned up Rue's head, covered it with some brown sticky stuff and jabbed her with some antibiotics ('let's call it a tenner', he said). Rue came home, settled into a rabbit cage in the dining room and laid an egg.

 

Today she seems absolutely fine, and has laid another egg. I put her back in the run with the other girls, watching them carefully to make sure that she wasn't picked on. Instead, she has gone to each of the others in turn, fluffed out her neck feathers and given them all a good seeing to, as if to say 'I'm back, and I'm still bad'. She's always been quite high up in the pecking order, but I've never seen her behave like that before! Now, it's as if nothing had happened (perhaps she's forgotten, and thinks her comb is still there). :roll:

 

We can only assume that she was attacked by a fox, who managed to get hold of her ridiculous headgear through the bars of the Omlet run. I'm amazed that she's survived with few apparent ill effects. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had a similar experience, and how their chicken fared without a comb.

 

Rue has always been a special chicken, but now she's even more precious. Once she's healed, I'll post some before and after photos.

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Brilliant news that she is still perky and her normal self even though she's combless!! :D

 

I cant believe after an attempted fox attack she's bright and acting normal....she's one tough cookie.

 

I expect she will be relieved to get to bed tonight so she can relax and sleep off her "eventful" day.

 

Give your friend a big thankyou, very nice of her to help you out.

 

Let us know how she goes :D

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Thanks for all your concern. Rue had a day off laying yesterday (Saturday) , but produced a lovely white egg again today. I can't believe how well she's doing. She looks pretty odd though. :(

 

She's always been our favourite hen and is a fabulous layer - I'd heartily recommend White Stars to anybody, especially now.

 

She is one of those chickens who goes really calm when you pick her up - you can lie her on one hand and she will just stay there, not moving - the kids love her.

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