Ode to Muppet

It's true. We lost our most beloved chicken. She went broody (sat on invisible egg babies to hatch) for about three weeks and when she came out of it we noticed she was ever so slightly favoring her right foot. Mike took her to the avian specialty hospital and they sent him home with chicken-ibprofen to reduce swelling and reduce her pain. It got worse and turned into an all out limp. We finally took her to the local avian vet down the street from our house and he was AWESOME! He suggested Merik's disease. Merik's disease is a actually a common avian virus which all hatchery chickens are vaccinated for that eventually leads to degenerative paralysis. Unfortunately, we got Muppet from the feed store who got her from thier neighbor who hatched her in their backyard. Hence, she was never vaccinated- we didn't even think to ask. The feed store owner felt awful, we felt awful, and the vet made the best of a sad situation with jokes about taking her temp and being a muppet (use your imagination . . . ) So after a good laugh it was pretty clear when her leg and wing were effected and she fell on her face a couple times that it was time. We brought her inside and she shared mike's office for a week and when it got to the point when we would hold her, she would fall asleep like a wet noodle that we knew it was time to take her in to the vet for the last time... The vet did a chicken autopsy (necropsy) and found evidence for Merik's which couldn't be confirmed until after . . . We will miss her coos of baBuhhhh and fluffy waddle. May she be scratching around the clouds and flying without effort . . .

I do feel obligated to politically comment on the issue of backyard hatches. Hatching on one's own as a chicken enthusiast does help to keep heritage breeds of chickens around. This is important because they are threatened to be lost to more genetically bred super chickens whose legs break under their rapid growth in order to provide juicy juicy boneless skinless dinner. I do believe there is a difference between pets and food and I believe both can be chickens- I love a good stir fry or taco as much as anyone but as is the current trend it is important not to loose our historical knowledge and access to our food sources. Maybe pet chickens are one way of preservation in the same way that victory home gardens have come back in vogue. However, vaccines are made in batches of 1000 with a 12 hour shelf life which makes backyard hatching unrealistic to vaccinate. Thinking of vaccinated populations continuing the Meriks disease to infect future chickens feels irresponsible and hits close to home in seeing a poor chicken fall- literally. What do you think?