A guest blog by Chicken Run Rescue
Monique was our 1209th rescue who arrived last August. Like most, her story started with an email:
“Hi…a hen wandered into our garage last night. Neighbors said they’ve seen it wandering around for a few days so I don’t think it will find its way home. Has infected eye and maybe something wrong with it’s beak. What should I do with it? We can’t keep it.” Neighbors had been chasing her out of their yards and into the street. As always for stray reports, I asked for pictures of the bird and of where they were at the moment. I wept when I saw the extent of her eye infection to think of her wandering about with no food or protection and knew her options were non-existent if we didn’t step in. The event of bird flu had just resurfaced and was now considered to be endemic- here to stay- so we had to be be on high biosecurity alert to keep our residents safe. It would take some time and networking to find her a safe place to be fostered and vet care arranged.

Alumni CRR shelter helper Katie lived near her location and works at a vet clinic in that area. Better still the clinic had just hired a new vet with avian experience. We arranged to have Monique brought directly to the clinic while we scrambled to put the rest of the plan together. Katie provided temporary Foster care and Lauren drove the space shuttle to and from the vet clinic. By the end of October, her infection had cleared and our vet OK’d transfer to CRR.
Monique introduced herself to the residents here and invented using yurt roofs as hammocks and sneaking snacks when others were not looking. Resident Cheekee was indignant about that- they looked like they could be sisters. She was full of energy and thrilled she found such a fun place to live. However, 2 weeks later her infection relapsed and she had to go back to 2 more weeks of crate rest and meds.