Oh Chicky, My Chicky...

If there is a sick animal in need of a home it will somehow find it's way to my house. If I decide that we need a family pet-rabbit and I have 10 bunnies to choose from, somehow...somehow I will manage to pick out the one that has some rare genetic disorder that requires extra time and money and energy, etc, etc, etc (and yes, I've already tried convincing Jonathan that we need a rabbit as a pet as well). Yet right now I am ready to render myself pet-free for the rest of my life due to the stress/anxiety that our little Chicky is causing me. Soon after we brought Chicky home I noticed that she wasn't really using one of her legs. Kind of odd but not a huge deal, I thought to myself...I'll just keep an eye on it. Then I talked with some friends here who got her two siblings from the same batch of eggs and one of their birds was doing the same thing! Ok, I should try to figure out why this is happening. To make a long story short little Chicky consumed my daily thoughts as her condition worsened each day and as I frantically tried to find some answers around town and on the internet. Nobody seemed to have a clue what her deal was (even the bird guy here in town)and she didn't have any of the symptoms of the more common bird foot illnesses. By Saturday little Chicky was pulling herself around the cage with her wings and beak (her other foot had become almost useless). Oh, if you're not an animal person then you have no idea how truly horrific and draining this is to me! On Saturday I gave one more attempt on the internet to see if I could find something and happened to find a lady posting about her bird who had the same symptoms and had just been diagnosed...so, I think Chicky has a calcium deficiency. The good news is I am fairly certain Chicky is diagnosed...the bad news is that she may be paralyzed for the rest of her birdy life. My dear husband (who I'm probably driving nuts with my bird woes) dutifully ran to town since the bird store was to close 5 minutes after my internet discovery and bought some calcium blocks/drops to put in Chicky's food/water. 3 days later she does seem more chipper but still can't use one foot and hardly can use the other foot. It is so pitiful to watch her hobble around her cage...I just don't know if I can stand it! If anybody has any parakeet wisdom, please, please, for the love of Chicky (and me) please share. Ok, onto more less-depressing happenings in the Kroeker home.

Karis and I ground some wheat berries and made bread this morning! Even though I ended up checking on Chicky in-between tasks (grind berries, check on chicky, heat water, check on chicky, stir ingredients, check on chicky...and so on and so on) the bread turned out decent. It's fun that Karis is old enough to "help" me in the kitchen. Much more interesting that way!

This is Karis before she knew I was taking her picture.

And this is the absolutely goofy face she makes once she realizes the camera is pointed in her direction.

And here she is-10 pictures later-when she's finally tired of making her goofy face. Much better.

Since the beginning of this post is completely depressing (to me anyway) let's add one more thing to cheer this post up a bit. Another favorite song of Karis'...

I guess I better end this post (and go check on Chicky)...