It took Jackson one day to figure out the new breakfast routine after we moved.
He's a quick learner.
He races to his breakfast every morning and it's one of my favorite things.
His zest for life always brings a smile to my heart.
As does his gentle soul.
I wish the world saw chickens through loving and caring eyes.
I'm grateful every single day that Jackson was saved from being someone's meal.
I really hope Mike can repair his run soon.
I'm deeply grateful he has the catio space, but I look forward to giving him his old run back.
May your day be full of peace and your plate be free from suffering.
Jackson and I don't want the cold to return.
We had such a nice time today visiting with neighbors, chit chatting, scritching and scratching and walking with the warm sunshine.
I wanted to paint this morning, so I was a little late for our walk. Jackson was so sweet. When I let him out of his run, I stepped in to do the morning poop scooping.
Jackson came running back over to the run and stood in front of the door saying "come on human! We've got chicken stuff to do!"
So out I went and chicken stuff we did!
We pecked at the ground and got our breaks nice and dirty, ate grass, dined on some clover, did laps around the yard, visited with the neighbors, hung out with Boone, visited the Boone Saloon with Frank, ate what mock strawberries we could find, made a trip to the watering hole and took time to stop and smell the marigolds.
It was a good chicken time.
Jackson didn't even complain that I was running late this morning. He said "better late than never human!"
Where he picks up these sayings, I have no idea.
Thank you for your donations to the girls fundraiser! You are literally their life saver. ❤️ Thank you for knowing that their lives matter, thank you for your support and thank you for being a part of our village. ❤️
You know me with my updates. I often hesitate to post them. Not because I'm not thrilled when I see improvements, but because after years of caring for chickens I've become a cautiously optimistic person.
I didn't want to share until I could observe Myles for most of the day.
I wanted to let you know that this morning Myles woke up with improvement.
He still slept with his head rolled underneath him, but once I got him up, and took him out to the yard, he was able to get his bearings much more quickly than he has been over the last three days.
Myles spent the morning crowing his little heart out, which is always a good sign for roosters. He tidbitted to the girls and even did a little wing dance for Lucy.
He's been outside with the girls all day and so far he hasn't needed to come inside to nap and rest. Myles still has moments of his head getting twisted underneath him, but they have been less frequent so far today and his recovery time as been quicker.
He's having a hard time drinking from the water bowl though. It triggers him into his head spins. I've been making small puddles on the ground for him to drink from, it seems easier for him to drink from puddles for some reason. He doesn't want watermelon, so I've been soaking blueberries in water and hand feeding them to him.
I went to check on him a little bit ago and he was standing on the edge of the little step down that goes into their roofed run area.
I said "no Myles! I'll come help you get in there!" He has a hard time with step downs because it triggers head spins.
I didn't get to him fast enough and he went to step down to get in that part of their run. He fell over and did a flip flop roll, but got himself up pretty quickly.
I brought dirt in and leveled that step down spot. Hopefully that won't be an issue again.
I took him out a little bit ago for some yard time. He's ALL into the grass seed in the yard. He found a nice patch of dried out grass seed in front of the catio and he mowed it
This was Myles after I got him up this morning. I was hesitant to share this video because I think it's upsetting. But I also think it's also important to share what he's going through.
My heart ached so much seeing him like this this morning.
He actually did well today outside in the run. Once I took him outside, to see how he'd do, he was able to hold his head up. It was tilted, but he could hold it up and walk without circling.
It reminded me of my Zola. She always did better with her neurological issue when she was outside. She had a tougher time inside.
Myles did not go in their roofed run today. He would stand at the doorway, but not go in. I'm pretty sure it's because there is a 3" or so step down. He didn't want to attempt it because it would it would cause him to loose his balance.
At one point I checked on him and he was standing on a piece of a broken log that was maybe just 1" or so high. I could tell he was stuck. I helped him down and that sent him into his head spinning and it getting stuck upside down. I held his head and talked to him. That helped him to calm him down and get his bearings. He got his head back up and went back to doing his Myles chicken things.
I was out with Jackson. Jackson and Cyana were talking smack to each other (through the fencing). Cyana turned to walk away and accidentally bumped Myles. That bump sent Myles into his head issue and balance issue. I started to head into the run to help him, but fortunately he was able to get his bearings on his own and got his head up.
His head has had a subtle tilt to the right this week, but today it was much more obvious.
He's tucked in for the night. When Mike carried him to bed, he had to hold up Myles head for him. I went to check on him and his head is upside down. 😔
I'm so grateful he has is appointment in the morning. It's at 8:30 am. It's a little bit of a drive, so I'm heading to bed because I need to get up extra early to get everyone up in the morning, fed and sit
Well my little flower child Jackson is a flower child no more. He trampled down the marigolds!
Catio time with Mason. ❤️
I hope one day soon he'll be as comfortable with me in their run as he is during our catio time.
One thing I've noticed with Mason, since he arrived, is he's scared of rain. I've never had a chicken who is scared of the rain before. Even though he has an entire roofed run, to be under when it's raining, rain still upsets him.
During our catio time this morning it started pouring rain.
He was extremely nervous, but we toughed it out with talking and blueberry treats.
After a little time passed he finally let out a stress shake.
This is the shake that I talk about on my posts.
It's called a dry shake and it's how animals release stress.
This is what I encourage Mason to do more of.
He's really good at holding on to his stress and I'm wanting him to learn that it's ok to shake his stress off.
We've been working on learning the word shake.
