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The Situation
A month ago one of our guinea fowl survived a car accident. This is new for us. Typically cars that hit our guinea fowl are driving too fast (at least 50 miles per hour) for the birds to survive. Aaron and I weren’t sure how best to handle our maimed bird, so we did what any self-respecting bird owners would do: we scoured the internet.
Our Options
Following the advice we found, we caught our hurt bird and identified where the break was. Sadly, we realized there was nothing we could do because the break was up too high on her leg for us to help her with a splint. We were faced with the ugly decision of putting our bird out of her misery or giving her a chance to push through her pain and fend for herself. We agreed to give the latter a shot. If she had the fight left in her, who were we to tell her otherwise?
A Word About Guinea Fowl
It’s not practical to take a guinea fowl to the vet when injured because the likelihood that s/he will run out into the road and get hit is nearly 100%. I’m not exaggerating. We lose nearly all of our birds this way. Though they have acres of safe land to run around on, they insist on crossing the highway daily. Interestingly, although they are very capable of flight, they choose to walk across the road. Slowly. They are not the brightest bulbs in the box, but we love them for their tick-decimating aptitude.
So How Did One-Leg Fare?
Our busted-up guinea fowl kept on hopping around on one leg, hence her nickname. She could no longer accompany her bird friends on their daily excursions across the highway, but that actually kept her safer than she would have been otherwise. She was grounded and couldn’t move very far from the coop, with its supply of fresh water and roost for protection from predators. If I can anthropomorphize my dear bird friend for a moment, it seemed she had found her happiness in appreciating the reality she was living rather than dwelling on what she had lost. Isn’t that a lesson we can all apply?
Getting to the Other Side
After a few weeks of sticking around the farm by herself while her flock went on their daily outings, she eventually decided she was ready to go with them. Staying in community with her bird crew on their adventures across the highway was, in One-Leg’s estimation, worth the risk of life and wing. I regret to inform you that One-Leg is no longer with us here at Fail Better Farms. While we aren’t sure exactly what happened to One-Leg, we like to think she eloped with a bird lover and settled down to start a family. Maybe she’s watching over us now, roosting up high in the copse of trees across the street. All we know for sure is she crossed the road and was never heard from again. That, dear reader, is the Legend of One-Leg.
