Post by Mitra on Jun 22, 2007 10:49:10 GMT -5
This is an old post from 2007 - I have an update to the story on Page 2 - 11/14/08.
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You may remember that I have a crippled chicken, Ruby. After caring for her for 10 weeks in a cage, I started to wish that I could find someone who had the time to work with her to rehabilitate her. With broiler chicks and piglets, it was getting too hard to give her the attention she deserved.
Meanwhile, my 8-year old was begging me for a pet of her own to love on, a guinea pig, a gerbil, anything! I tried to explain to her that it wasn't as if we were a pet-less household with ten cats and a dog. "Yes Mom, but those are "family pets", I want a pet who depends on me!" A light-bulb exploded over my head.
I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it. "Hey, how about Ruby? You want to be in charge of taking care of her? She could be YOUR pet!"
Well the rest is history. Roshan took over caring for Ruby and I think we may have a great children's book in the making. She takes her out of her inside cage every morning and puts her in the outside one on the grass under a maple tree. Joann kindly gave Roshan the perfect basket for carrying Ruby around in and this little chicken just has it made. If Roshan wants to go play on the swing, she puts Ruby in her basket and off they go. She takes her out of the basket and sets her on the lawn to flop about or preen while she swings. Every other day, Roshan takes Ruby to the "dust bath spa". She sets her down in one of the dust bath holes made by the other chickens and pours handfuls of dust over her back and head while Ruby fluffs it around with her wings as best she can. It's the essence of "cooperation". They also seem to have endless conversations with each other. It's the sweetest thing ever! The best part of it is that Roshan has stuck with it faithfully and I don't have to include Ruby in my list of chores.
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You may remember that I have a crippled chicken, Ruby. After caring for her for 10 weeks in a cage, I started to wish that I could find someone who had the time to work with her to rehabilitate her. With broiler chicks and piglets, it was getting too hard to give her the attention she deserved.
Meanwhile, my 8-year old was begging me for a pet of her own to love on, a guinea pig, a gerbil, anything! I tried to explain to her that it wasn't as if we were a pet-less household with ten cats and a dog. "Yes Mom, but those are "family pets", I want a pet who depends on me!" A light-bulb exploded over my head.
I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it. "Hey, how about Ruby? You want to be in charge of taking care of her? She could be YOUR pet!"
Well the rest is history. Roshan took over caring for Ruby and I think we may have a great children's book in the making. She takes her out of her inside cage every morning and puts her in the outside one on the grass under a maple tree. Joann kindly gave Roshan the perfect basket for carrying Ruby around in and this little chicken just has it made. If Roshan wants to go play on the swing, she puts Ruby in her basket and off they go. She takes her out of the basket and sets her on the lawn to flop about or preen while she swings. Every other day, Roshan takes Ruby to the "dust bath spa". She sets her down in one of the dust bath holes made by the other chickens and pours handfuls of dust over her back and head while Ruby fluffs it around with her wings as best she can. It's the essence of "cooperation". They also seem to have endless conversations with each other. It's the sweetest thing ever! The best part of it is that Roshan has stuck with it faithfully and I don't have to include Ruby in my list of chores.