Now my chickens aren't organic.

So, it had come to my attention that my Facebook posts were becoming too, shall we say, unsavory for public consumption?  Most people found what I had to say funny, albeit a little gross.  Which is totally my intention.

But for this little glimpse into my life, I thought a medium where folks could choose to read about it would be my best bet.

One of our chickens, Cassiopeia (Cassie for short), all of a sudden was refusing to roost.  She would climb into the nesting box and sleep there.  The problem with this was she would poop in the box and the other hens wouldn't want to go lay in there.  We tried blocking off her access to the boxes at night, but she would huddle in a corner and still not roost.  Then she got limpy.  I immediately suspected bumblefoot, but she never developed any abcesses.  I was stumped.  She would limp and flap around and generally hop along with the other girls.  She was still laying and eating.

But today we decided to bring her inside for a little R&R and some electrolytes and probiotics.  I inspected her feet again and thought I saw the nigglings of bumblefoot, so I drew Cassie a warm epsom salt bath.  When I picked her up, I noticed the odor.  A very distinct odor of infection, and then I saw her little claw (do chickens have dew claws?) was torn.  So, I plopped Cassie in the bath and she soaked nicely for about 20 minutes.  I wrapped her up in a towel and then inspected her toe again.  The toe was hanging on by a little bit of tendon, and we knew we had to amputate.  I held Ms. Cassie in the towel and Papa B did the surgery.  She didn't flinch or wince a bit.  Brave chicken.  And she then got a nice bandage of gauze and vet wrap and she is back in the crate in the basement.  We got some chicken antibiotics and hopefully she'll be on the mend and back with the flock in a few days.

We're expecting a bit of snow tomorrow, so she is living the high life for a while.  Maybe I should just bring the rest of the girls in to keep her company?