Those of you who know me online (Taps, AIM, ect) have noticed I'm rarely on any more. Well here's the reason for that. A little over a week ago we had a hen hatch some eggs out in the weeds in our field. I heard a peeping which I knew wasn't from the chicks we already had and searched through the weeds for the sound. I found this chick laying in the mud (was raining) beside the nest the hen was sitting on. He was cold and barely alive, having just recently hatched. Under the hen was 5 more chicks. Why was he out of the nest you might wonder? He was born with a condition usually found in older chicken called croockneck (I think that's the right name) which is a vitamin deficiency that causes chickens (usually Japanese Silkies) to turn their heads upside down under themselves. At least I assumed that was what was wrong with him as he have 2 older chicks that suffer from it, might have been water on the brain or some thing I've not encountered before. Hens know when some thing isn't right with a chick and will often kick them out of the nest, we're guessing that's what happened. So I adopted him/her and have had to carry him around with me nearly 24/7 since. He's getting better as he started life with his head literally between his legs, now he only curves it back against his back as you see in this picture. We've had him on a medicated feed. And yes he's spoiled rotten, either sleeping or eating. He's an odd one, he sleeps on his side or back like a human (I'm laying down in the picture) and has a fit if he's not touching you (If I move my hand he wakes up and starts peeping.)
So that's where I've been all this time. I've shown pics of him to a few friend but figured this was faster then e-mailing each person I know.