Chicklet was born June16th, 2006 to Rosie and Chip.  Rosie is our rescue hen and Chip is
actually the husband of Sweety (who knew that Chip is such a stud).   Rosie is a real firecracker and
evidently has no interest in having a full-time mate :-)   Likes to stir up trouble.



Here's Rosie with her chicks.



Chicklet and his nestmates...


It turns out that Rosie likes to over-preen her chicks :-(
We decided that that the babies would be better off with a neighbor who breeds and hand-feeds
lovebirds and cockatiels.  Her babies always turn out sweet and very happy.

The Emergency

Chicklet was in his new home when their four year old snuck him out of the cage.  The
youngster was carrying Chicklet around when she tripped and fell on him.
When her mom heard a scream come from Chicklet, she was shocked and angry.
She picked up Chicklet and held him, trying to calm him down.  After a while she
put him down in his cage and saw that he couldn't use his legs.  Chicklet had a strong will to
live and used his beak to pull himself around his cage.  It quickly became obvious that he
wasn't just stunned and was seriously injured.

I was called and we rushed Chicklet to the vets' office.  After X-rays the vet found that both of
Chicklet's legs were broken, but amazingly no other broken bones or injuries seemed to have happened.





Oh ouch!  The poor little baby...

Day 1

Maya Bewig, the avian vet, fashioned splints out of syringe casings and very sticky surgical tape.



It quickly became apparent that Chicklet was better off being swaddled than having a collar.



One of many casual dinners...




It has been many days of  being wrapped, carried around and snuggled during waking hours.
He has been sleeping, all wrapped up, in an open drawer next to the bed.
I was worried because he initially didn't want to eat or drink after the accident.  I finally got him
eating but had to get him to drink out of an eyedropper until his splints came off.
At first, all he would eat was seed mix with vitamins, but he's getting back onto pellet food again.


Day 8 - she has just gotten his splints off - He's really unhappy about being held up to look at his
legs.  After being at the vets', I can imagine why.   Meet the   $387.71   lovebird (vet bill so far)!


He's a lot happier now that his splints are off!  He seems to have a lot of function in his left leg.
His right foot is stuck in a fist.  I'll see if I can get some mobility after another week.  Right now
everything's way too fragile.


Thankfully, my wife, Sara, is helping take care of Chicklet.  Here, Chicklet is asleep in her hair.



It's been 11 days since the accident and he's trying really hard to use his legs- which is both good
and bad.  He's supposed to go very easy on his legs for another two weeks.   I've been gently
having him wrap his feet around my little finger when I hold him.  Sort of physical therapy.
Here he's standing - all happy and fluffy.



Of course, he's not into "taking it easy" - just like his Mom :-)



Day 13 - Wow!  He's standing and using both feet for gripping!
He's amazing!


Day 19 - Well, he has gotten very peppy and strong!  He has been   running   back and forth in
his hospital box.  He has almost complete range of motion,  so he's graduated to a real cage!
I spent a lot of time watching him to make sure he didn't hurt himself - at least I thought so...
Here he's having dinner.


Oh no!  He's not taking it easy...


NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Oh for crying out loud!  So much for him going easy on his legs!   I figure that, since he hasn't
been on anti-inflamatories for a long time, he will know when something starts to hurt.  I hope!


He has full use of his legs and feet and is now living with Henlet.   By the way, if
you look at Chicklet's beak, you'll see his brown "baby stripe" going away as he
grows up in these photos!

Today Chicklet is a happy healthy little guy.  You can't tell that he's been through
so much when he was a baby.  It was a hard road, but it had a happy ending!