Plan a Visit Plan a Group Trip Plan a Special Event Back to the Home Page Education Center Support the Park Media Center
Wildlife Prairie State Park
 
 Tales and Trails

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

WHY DID THE CHICKENS CROSS THE ROAD?

Well the first bird crossed the road from their winter barn because we noticed that she was too weak to stand up. She looked fine, didn't have any injuries, and when food was put in front of her, she ate. But, she couldn't stand up. We brought her to the animal kitchen quarantine room and kept her in a medium size wire crate. She was propped up with straw, her food pan was within her reach and we added pro-biotics to her water. For some reason she looked like a 'Roxie' to me so that's what we named her. At this point we thought we were keeping her comfortable until her time ran out.

Roxie was in this crate for about 7 days when we noticed her trying to stand - this was a good sign. Within another 3 days she was walking around a little so we took her out of the crate and gave her a larger cage (still in the quarantine room). We added a nest box cut out of a cardboard box, lined it with straw, put newspapers down and she's doing very well. She's also a very talkative little bird and reminds us about her daily treats of bread and lettuce.

The second bird crossed the road because the other chickens were picking on her, and had bloodied the top of her head and her comb. We removed her from the group to check her out, clean her up and prevent her from being picked on anymore. This is a prime example of the 'pecking order'.

We cleaned her off the best we could and put her in the cage next to Roxie's. She was quite curious about Roxie, (who couldn't have cared less), and would stand at the divider staring. We're not sure if this was out of curiosity, loneliness, jealousy or what, but she would just stand there. We gave her the same furniture Roxie has: a box with straw, newspapers on the floor, food and water. With all of the creature comforts a little chicken would need she, like Roxie, is doing very well. She also reminds us about the bread and lettuce treats.

The girls chat with each other and we're pretty sure they're talking about us, but we can't prove anything. After a couple of days we removed the divider so the girls could share an even larger area, but things seemed a little tense so we opted to keep them separated. They each have access to the entire quarantine room for a portion of the day, but then go back into their cages for the night. The only problem we have now is chicken #2 hasn't 'told' us her name. So, we thought we'd leave it up to our readers to come up with an appropriate name. Any suggestions?

Labels: , , , ,

 
Current Weather Click for Peoria, Illinois Forecast

Enter Our Monthly Photo Contest Follow Us
Lodging - Availability and Reservations
Read Our Blog - Tales and Trails
Shop for Park Gear
Become a Member
 
Wildlife Prairie State Park
 
 
 
 



Illinois Department of Natural Resources



Illinois River Road

 


----------------------