Holy cats, it took me forever to finish Friday’s comic! I guess my mind just isn’t here today -_-; But it’s up now ^-^ And my little chicken is feeling much better! She’s been getting stronger and stronger all day so I’m really relieved!
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Chicken update: ^-^
Wow, I got so many emails with advice on chickens, thank you! I'll email everyone back when I've finished Friday's comic ^-^ For now, my Pedra (my chicken ^-^) seems to be out of the danger zone... but whew, that was a scary night! Okay, here's the long story....

It all started around 7pm last night... I was settling down to do inking and edits to Friday's comic when I noticed that Pedra wasn't acting right (she's only a week old so I keep her in a tub that I carry around with me... yeah, overprotective, I know, but I've never had a chicken before ^-^;) She started looking really weak, she wasn't eating and she was cheeping really loudly like she was in pain. By 9pm, she couldn't stand anymore... she just sort of collapsed and lay there shivering. I didn't know what to do so I picked her and and lay her out in my palm with the other hand closed over her (she's so tiny, she fit perfectly but it was the saddest thing... she couldn't really move so she just lay there on her side with her feet tucked up under her looking for all the world like a dead bird one might find on their lawn)... I was trying to warm her up. I was sure she was a goner so mostly, I was trying to make her comfortable... I didn't want her to die alone ;_;

The next few hours, she slept in my palm while I woke her up now and then to give her water. Then around 12am, she woke up and got really agitated... and then made a huge poo-y mess everywhere >-< But when she fell back asleep, she seemed a lot more comfortable and started twitching her feet and clacking her beak while she slept like she normally does. She slept until about 1:15am and then woke up and tried to stand. She was weak but she managed and she also ate a bit and then went to sleep in her tub at which point I went bed (I had a horrible headache from my eyes getting all tear-y.... I couldn't help it, when she lay there looking dead, it was so sad ;_;) When I got up this morning and checked on her, she seems a bit weak yet but she's eating and scratching around in her bedding.... and now she's sitting on my lap ^-^

But... what was/is wrong with her? I was sure she would die, she got so terribly sick last night. At first I thought that maybe she was just constipated but when I looked online at chicken diseases, it said to be watchful of a chicken twisting her head at an odd angle (which Pedra was doing last night) because that's a sign of disease affecting the nervous system. Did she catch a virus and is recovering? I'm not sure but I'm just so happy that she's looking so much better today ^-^

Pedra:


Pedra sleeping in my lap: