This is Wilma. Wilma is my oldest hen, the only one left from my initial flock. Chickens are supposed to stop laying eggs when they get as old as she is, nearly ten, but she still tries. This has created a health problem for her.
You see, if old chickens try to lay eggs, it results in a protein deficiency (as I understand it - my daughter did the research). The first sign of a problem was that she suddenly could not walk or stand very well - she'd run in uncontrolled circles around and around, looking very much like a drunk trying to go for a run. She would careen around in ever decreasing circles, often falling on her face. Now and then she'd manage to arrive at her apparent goal: the water, the food, or the treat I had just provided for them all. It was hard to watch and I was afraid she would starve to death because she could not get to the food.
The remedy for this ailment is increased protein in the diet, so now I isolate Wilma and give her nice portions of egg yolks, sunflower seeds, meal worms and pine nuts all to herself. I wait until she settles somewhere so that I can put it right at her beak, otherwise she just flails around the run and can't really get to it. The good news is that she showed improvement within a few days, and can now at least stand still.
So now I have to schlepp out there every day to make sure Wilma gets some extra protein from me.
end of freewrite
Here's a picture of my ladies having a nice treat. Since I can't see what the treat was in this pix, I think it must have been sunflower seeds. Wilma is at the bottom right. She's so beautiful, a Silver Laced Wyandotte.
But here's a shot taken a short time before the last one, in which we can see Wilma crashing the party.
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All images are my own unless otherwise stated.
The adorable page break of the barn is by 