Another Ethel Post

 I know I worry so much about these animals. Ethel is on my worry list right now. This has been going on since the middle of June. I don’t know what happened to her. Ronnie thought she was trying to go under the fence and got caught on it and struggled to get free. He said he saw the end of her trying to get free and helped her out. Since then she has been missing feathers and is not using her left leg at all. She was fine in with the smaller goats and Wheezy. Since then Edith and Suzie Q have hatched out chicks and are aggressive to anything and everything that comes near those chicks. Here’s the problem, Edith started hanging out in the goat pen and ran Ethel out. She then went to the barn with the cows and all the other older chickens, but Suzie Q ran her out of there. So, we thought she was gone and was actually living under the horse trailer. Once that trailer was moved, she was under the cargo trailer. Then I saw her out in the open by the pig pen and got her back under the cargo trailer for protection and fed her. This morning, Ronnie said she was back in the barn with the cows. When I got home, she was out of the barn trying to get comfortable in the dirt. This chicken is breaking my heart. I fed her and then went on to do chores. Later a bunch of the chickens were in a group in some tall grass. I saw her in a pile of grass sleeping. I didn’t want anything to happen to her, so I decided to pick her up and move her. The other chickens weren’t bothering her, but I thought I would put her in the chicken coop. Once she jumped around a few minutes, she was too tired to try to get away from me. Cue the tears… I picked her up and she immediately just put her head on my chest. It broke my heart. I was going toward the chicken coop but decided I didn’t want her to get lonely or to hurt herself trying to get out of there so I took her back to where the goats were. She seemed happy to be back in there. I hope Edith leaves her alone. I don’t think she has much time left, but I held her for a long time to comfort her. Poor girl. I don’t know what else to do for her. Anyone who wants to tell me chickens don’t have emotions, come meet Ethel. Bless her heart.