Bloody Stump

Some other titles that were considered for this post include: "Missing: One chicken foot" or "Where the heck is Sarah's dead foot?" or "Guess what I discovered in the henhouse today?" Instead, I settled for what you see above. Yes, "bloody stump" pretty much sums it up nicely with no sugar coating or beating around the bush.

DH told me when I got home today that he thought Sarah (the chicken with the dead foot) wasn't doing very well. We have been free-ranging our chickens a little each afternoon and today when he let them out Sarah didn't want to leave the coop. Instead, she was huddled next to the nest box. When I went out to check on her I picked her up to see how her sore foot was doing. You can, perhaps, imagine the alarm and shock that I felt when I saw a bloody stump where her foot had been. And no foot in the near vicinity. It was a truly gruesome discovery. I immediately headed inside to enlist the help of my DH. I was a teeny bit panicked if you want to know the truth. My husband was more diplomatic and calm about it. He reminded me that we actually had HOPED her foot would fall off on its own. We discussed it further while waiting for the vet to call us back. I heavily insisted that my husband go out to examine the stump for himself. Truthfully, I didn't want to look at it. Long story short, DH talked to the vet (who happens to be a friend of ours who goes to our church) and we brought Sarah inside (again) for the night, put Neosporin on her stump (DH did that while I held her; he's nice like that), and wrapped the stump in a piece of gauze and taped it up. She is currently resting in the Rubbermaid tub (AKA "chicken hospital") in our bathroom. Hopefully she will fully recover and be a cute and friendly "disabled" chicken. A few people who have learned about her situation, knowing my crafty nature, have suggested I design a chicken prosthetic. However, I am pretty sure that is outside the realm of my capabilities. I think Sarah would just peck it off anyway. I'll keep you posted. You can thank me later for the absence of bloody stump photos.