Chicken Butts and Quinoa

That's a gross title huh?

I had to write this down somewhere while it's still oh-so-fresh.  Bleh!

We moved into the country last year onto a few acres and a big, fixer-upper house.  It's taken some adjustment.  Mostly on my part.

Cutting to the chase.....we have chickens.  We've only had chickens about two months now.

I just had the unique experience of caring for a laying hen with a prolapse.  That's doesn't sound so bad.  No, maybe not to you.  But a prolapse is kinda like a chicken hemorrhoid.  It's when the piping of the egg tube gets strained an starts to come out the vent...which is the egg hole.

Poor girl had a nasty mess down there.  I won't go into details but I had to bring her inside and clean her up.  Not only that, I used my witch hazel pads left over from my five children's births to clean her little vent.  THEN....THEN....I put triple antibiotic ointment on my gloved-fingers and rubbed it on the vent and actually pushed the prolapse back up in her.  Believe it or not, I think she felt relieved.

I dried her off and then according to the people who know more than me....we put her in a cage downstairs in the basement with little food and water and in the dark.  There she can rest and hopefully not lay any eggs.  That whole little system needs to rest.

That's what I did.  I learned a new skill I guess.  I only gagged twice.  The second time is when my daughter Lucy started to describe how nasty the chicken's butt looked.....WHILE I was cleaning it.

I'M THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD!!!

I was quite productive with other self-reliant skills today as well.  The chicken butt was just a bonus!

I made dinner in the solar oven.  Yay!!!  I also made up a bunch of quinoa to eat tonight instead of white rice.  I quite like quinoa.  My two-year old couldn't get enough of it.  My 13 year old son would rather have rice but he ate it without complaining!  Bonus #2

I finally strained my passion flower tincture that's been brewing for nearly eight weeks.  YAY!!!

These experiences--whether you succeed or not-- are crucial for developing self-reliance.  It's such a great feeling.  I did about the worse thing I could've thought of by washing that chicken's butt.  I was tough.  Next time, I'll know what I'm doing and hopefully catch it before it gets so bad.

I feel a little more positive and confident.  I'm very thankful for the internet and the advice others wrote concerning the chicken's issue.

Ok....closing down for the day.  I do have pictures of the solar oven meal and the quinoa.  I don't think you want to see pics of the chicken's butt. :)

Have a good day!!

UPDATE:  Our little chicken didn't make it.  Her prolapse was too severe.  After spending a lot of money at the vet, it was determined that she needed to be put down.  So sad!

AND.....our second little chicken that we ALSO took to the vet was too weak and she passed away in my arms on Tuesday night.  It was a sad chicken week for our family.  Alas, these are the things we're learning.