The Story of Mr. P 2020-2022

by Lexy DeFreece
(Missouri )

We got him from a lady because I really wanted a Polish chicken. She had 3 Polish roosters, so we got all 3 because they needed homes and a couple of hens because our last chickens had died and we only had one left.

The lady had said that we should separate the roosters from the hens for the night, so we left them in a dog cage on the porch and left the porch light on.

It was around midnight when my mom came and woke me up. She told me that my chickens had been attacked. I had already experienced loss not too long before, with my others chickens' deaths.

My mom wouldn't let me see what had happened, but she let me hold the one survivor, Mr.P. The other two roosters had died and he was the only survivor. Luckily the hens were safe in the chicken coop (thank goodness).

Mr.P had a broken wing. You could see the the bone sticking out of it. I didn't think he would survive. I was tired and upset so I put him in a small cage so he wouldn't hurt himself, gave him food and water and hoped he would live.

I checked on him the next morning and to my surprise he was still alive. So me and my mom kept his wing clean the best we could.

He lived. Even though his wing was broken and he was hurt he still managed to stay alive. He had trouble walking because of his wing but he still ate and drank. Even my grandma helped keeping his wing clean.

Finally, I decided to put him out into the coop to see how he would do. He still had trouble staying on his feet because of his wing. He had no way of moving it because it was broken. We put a makeshift brace on his wing hoping it would help him walk better. It didn't. he still stumbled around and couldn't walk.

So I put him up in the top part of the coop where he could just sit and be away from the other chickens. But he would always manage to get to the bottom somehow.

After maybe a month and he was still alive, but his wing was getting to be a problem. We kept it clean so it wouldn't get infected but his brace kept falling off and his wing would drag.

He didn't like the brace at all and there was no way his wing was gonna heal – the bone was broken from his shoulder. We called the vet to see if they could amputate it. They were no help at all! They said they could do nothing for him. They even suggested we just eat him.

Well we were not gonna give up on him. So we decided we were gonna amputate his wing our selves. There was nothing even holding his wing to his body just some skin and that was it. We just cut it off with scissors.

After that we let him stay out in the coop full time. At first he had trouble balancing and walking but he got much better. After awhile it seemed like he had both wings. He couldn't "fly" to perch at night but he was a really high jumper. He got really good at jumping.

Fast forward about 2 years and he was doing great. Until February of this year. Me and my sister got off the bus and my dad was home that day and for some reason he came and picked us up. Which was a bit strange.

He asked how our days were and all that and then he took us home. My mom was home that day as well and she had let our chickens out as usual. I went inside and dropped my stuff off in my room and walked back out into the living room.

I didn't get that far before my mom and dad looked at me. I was weirded out already, so I asked "what's wrong" – and then my mom delivered the news.

She said she had come back from running and found Mr.P had passed away.

I was so upset. I loved that chicken so much. Everything he had went through I had been there.

My mom went and showed me where he died. I couldn't take it. I went back inside and didn't leave my room for the rest of the night. I was heart broken.

He was the best chicken I could have ever asked for. I will never be able to find another one like him.

Today I now I have 12 girls to call my own(and 4 ducks!) but even so I will never forget my good one-winged rooster Mr.P.

(Sorry the story is so long).