FOR BLOG FAMILY TOO

This is a picture taken of Owen soon after he was hatched in our incubator. We attempted to splint his "curled" foot (see where arrow points) in hopes he would not be crippled. It did not work but he has remained healthy regardless of his extreme limp.

I sent the following in an email to my immediate family members. It was not something I was going to post on my blog because few would be that familiar with my chicken sagas. However, I realized that there were some who would probably enjoy this tale, so here it is:

Yesterday (Wednesday) Ron told me he had seen some feathers spread out in the field and wondered if all my chickens were accounted for. I have to wait until late to count because the Cloelle's stay out too long so I counted after dark and wasn't sure if all the chickens were in the house.

This morning I saw a black lump in the field. It didn't look like it was moving. I watched for a good length of time but no movement. Yet, after I had gone about my work and later glanced out again, it looked like the "lump" had changed location. When I went out to feed our herd of cats I saw the lump was OWEN.

I rushed over to him and he maneuvered away from me very quickly. He could move but he was practically featherless. His tail feathers were almost completely gone. I did not want to traumatize him further so I left him alone until the impending storm worried me . I went back out for Owen, picked him up and carried him to the chicken house.

Of all our chickens who have lost their lives to predators, we would not have given Owen a chance in heck to survive. Does he have the right name or what?

(Here is a link to the story about my chicken's namesake LITTLE OWEN my dad, that was posted at The Elder Storytelling Place on June 19, 2008.)