Little Bluestem Sanctuary

09/27/2025

06/22/2025

CHICKENS NEED PROTECTION IN HOT WEATHER!
This picture of Katie was taken many years ago when the temps soared. She and all the others were immediately brought into our house till temps droppped. Birds outside are at double risk for exposure to heat and bird flu.

Signs of heat exhaustion include:
excessive panting
open beak breathing,
wings held away from body
pale face, comb and wattles
drooping head
collapse

They can suffer heat exhaustion and death at temperatures over 85 degrees F. They need shade, space, ventilation and plenty of clean cool water. Move them to a cool, dark area like a basement, or at least provided with a fan to keep air moving if they are confined. An uninsulated coop is as deadly as a parked car in hot weather. Coops must be insulated not only to keep them warm in the winter but to keep them cool in the summer. Birds in heat stress are not inclined to eat during the heat of the day, so feed chickens during the coolest part of the day. Digestion naturally produces heat. Cool water is essential. Can be supplemented with electrolytes.

At the first sign of heat exhaustion, get the chicken inside immediately and put a fan on low, as birds can go into shock and die quickly. Mist the chicken lightly with cool water and contact your veterinarian. Keep your bird quiet and calm and do not handle any more than necessary.

Animals die after being left alone in hot cars for short periods of time. Here are a few tips to keep your birds safe and alive:
• Keep your birds inside and out of the direct sun.
• Be sure your bird has enough clean, cool water.
• Never leave your bird unattended in a parked car for any period of time. On a warm day, the temperature in a car can exceed 120 degrees in a matter of minutes -- even with the windows partially open. Your bird and any other animal can quickly suffer brain damage or die from heatstroke or suffocation.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!
If you see an animal outside or in a car exhibiting signs of heat stress, call animal control for that area (http://www.chickenrunrescue.org/Metro-Animal-Control...) -- in Minneapolis, dial 311 (612-673-3000). In St. Paul dial 651-291—1100. Call every 4 hours till they respond. If you believe the situation to be life-threatening, please call 911.
If you report something, please let us know what response you get from authorities.

05/15/2025

Four years ago today, we met Baby Clementine and her soon to be sisters for the first time. Anyone who has been following us for a while knows the story by now of the tiny yellow chick who liberated herself from the tractor supply tanks, inspiring us to start a farmed bird sanctuary in her honor. But did you know that that same day, literally simultaneously to Clem's rescue, Scott rescued two tiny gray chicks from a co-worker at his previous job? Those chicks were Tater and Bean, two beautiful hens who grew up alongside Clem. Our very first rescue chickens. The birds that taught us everything we know, and who changed our lives forever. Our perfect little angel babies, who I love with everything in me.

We lost Bean two months ago. She had intestinal cancer, and declined rapidly. As I sat with her in my lap in our vet's office, saying goodbye to my beloved Beanie Baby, I reflected on my life with her and her sisters Tater and Clem, who had already left us. I told her how much her and her sisters meant. How important they all were, how special, how fiercely loved. How she was the funniest, most independent chicken who probably ever lived. Bean was always the wild child of the bunch. The veggie burger bandit who didn't allow anyone to pick her up without a fuss, but would come visit with you on her own terms. We miss her terribly. Our last, first chicken. I haven't known how to come on here and talk about her loss. I never do. How can I possibly express just how precious these birds are? How desperate I am for the world to see them how we see them? How utterly and completely devastating it is that Bean is no longer with us?

So today, on Clem, Tater, and Bean's gotcha day, I wanted to honor my baby Bean. Her loss feels like closing one of the most beautiful chapters of my life. I would give anything to go back in time and be sitting under the honey locust with these three again. Clem nestled on my lap, Bean and Tater alternating between perching on mine and Scott's legs and getting the zoomies... Goodbye, my baby Bean. Goodbye, my sweet Clementine and Tater. Thank you for bringing so much light to our lives. We will love you always, always, always.

04/22/2025

Since the beginning, MRC has supported our residents by providing us with life saving grants for preventative reproductive care for our residents, as well as grants to assist with emergency medical situations as they arise. We would not be able to provide the same level of care for our birds without MRC! When we are sitting in an emergency waiting room staring at an astronomical estimate, MRC has been there multiple times to assist. Please consider a donation to this absolutely vital organization.

03/28/2025

"What people don't understand about the real cost of eggs is that laying hens have been bred to lay incessantly. Chickens in the wild lay fewer than 20 eggs a year and can live to 30 years old. Contemporary laying hens from hatcheries — the type that are in backyards, as well as factory farms — lay between 300-350 eggs a year.

They develop reproductive disease, which is the cause of up to 90 percent of the mortality in egg-laying flocks. That can begin as young as two years old. Their reproductive system literally blows out like an old tire. It's a protracted and horrible death."

There is a rush to begin raising backyard chickens as grocery store egg prices continue to skyrocket amid shortages blamed on bird flu. However, raising chickens and getting eggs isn’t as easy or speedy as people may think.

02/20/2025

We want to thank our anonymous donor(s) who have been sending us Chewy gift cards! In addition to feed for the birds, we also purchase the majority of the meds we use at the sanctuary through Chewy's online pharmacy. Dot's monthly medication costs alone are just over $100. This month, your generous gift card donations covered all of Dot's medication! Thank you so incredibly much for your support, and for helping us keep Dot and his friends healthy and comfortable.

01/25/2025

Ziggy and Bean received their preventative veterinary care this month. As two of our original founding residents of Little Bluestem, they have become very accustomed to going to the vet. Bean has known her veterinarian since she was only two weeks old! As our residents age, their medical needs and costs increase. As an older hen, Bean requires more and more frequent visits for care aimed at preventing reproductive disease, something hens of every breed and age are at high risk for, but older hens and high volume egg laying breeds in particular are at the highest risk. Roosters are not immune to their own problems as they age, and are prone to heart problems. Luckily, Ziggy and Bean had a great check up and no issues were found.

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Everything feels *very* heavy. And getting increasingly heavier. On top of the current catastrophic sociopolitical climate and the ever increasing threat of avian influenza, we lost seven of our absolutely beloved residents in 2024. The grief has been so compounding, so totally unrelenting, that I haven't been able to stomach posting about them yet. We know that the reality of rescuing animals, especially animals with disabilities and/or backgrounds of abuse and neglect, means that regardless of our commitment to individualized care for each bird, many will leave this Earth far too soon. What I haven't figured out yet is how to stand the losses. The loss of these incredible beings who were our family, and who we love so very much.

Even during periods that we are quiet on socials, we want you to know that we are still here, caring day in and day out for our residents and giving them the individualized care that they deserve. We are just two humans, working full-time jobs in addition to running the sanctuary in order to keep a roof over our heads and support our residents. Our mental and emotional capacity is at 1,000%. But even when the grief is too thick and the stress too high for us to have the capacity to be active on social media, we are always here for the birds and the other beings in our care. And we thank everyone for the support we are given and for the love and care that you have for the birds of Little Bluestem.

12/06/2024

Last week was the two year anniversary of Clementine's passing ❤️‍🩹. Clementine meant everything to us, and our love for her inspired us to dedicate our lives to helping birds by starting a sanctuary. We are so honored to have Baby Clementine's story featured by the Open Sanctuary Project. When Clementine came into our lives, we fell completely in love with her- fiercely and entirely. We were completely committed to doing whatever it took to help her be healthy, happy, and thriving. OSP was pivotal in our learning how to give her the specialized care she needed. OSP is such a gift to the sanctuary community, and to anyone wanting to provide ethical, compassionate care for their non-human friends.

09/23/2024

It's the first day of real fall weather and we are all so relieved to finally get a break from the heat and humidity, but unfortunately as soon as I got the birds settled into their aviaries to play outside, it started to rain. So enrichment for Scout and Star today is patrolling the kitchen!

09/22/2024

2 weeks out from her emergency visit-
✔️ white blood cell count back to normal
✔️ inflamation markers going down
✔️ finished with antibiotics
✔️ eating and pooping like a champion
✔️ full molt now because the universe is unkind and won't let Honey catch a break 😪
✔️ still feeling well enough to return to her usual chaotic personality and conquer laundry mountain 💪

09/19/2024

Friends, sorry for not making a more immediate update- directly after Honey Hawk got sick, I came down with a respiratory infection and have been very sick as well. We've just been a couple of sick girls hanging out! But I do have a good update on Honey Hawk to share.

First, I want to thank every person who donated to Squid and Honey's medical bills. Because of your generosity, we were able to cover all of Squid's care at her appointment last week, and made a dent in Honey's emergency vet bills as well. Thank you so much for all your help with this!! The last slide shows Honey's emergency vet bill.

What diagnostics found was that Honey was suffering from a GI infection, and the open mouth breathing we were seeing was not from an upper respiratory infection as predicted, but due to how severely uncomfortable and in pain she was from this GI distress. She was given an injection of pain meds, and another injection specifically for GI discomfort. After a week on her antibitoic and anti-inflammatory medication, Honey had a recheck appointment with our vet where we found her WBC was back in normal range! She is now eating completely normally and is no longer showing any signs of distress.

We are not completely out of the woods yet however, because Honey is still showing markers for inflamation (although these too have come down) and despite having all totally normal liver values- her liver appears a bit enlarged on rads. This is encoraching on her air space a bit. We have started liver meds, and will be rechecking her progress with our vet in two weeks to see if the liver size and inflamation markers have reduced. We will be keeping you posted. In the meantime, honey is resting comfortably and eating plenty of snacks. On top of everything else she has going on, she also stated molting this week! Our poor girl can't catch a break. But at least her WBC is back to normal, indicating her infection is under control, and we caught her GI issue so early that she recovered before even losing any weight! Her vet noted that she weighed exactly the same as she did at her last appointment earlier this year.

09/07/2024

Our Honey Hawk woke up this morning gurgling, open mouth breathing, lethargic, and very very sick. We are currently rushing her to the emergency vet. Honey was one of the very first chickens who ever came to live at LBS, she has lived here since she was rescued as a tiny baby. Honey is extremely special and is a central part of our family. Please keep Honey in your thoughts. We can absolutely not lose her. And please, if you are able, any amount donated toward what is likely to be a very high emergency vet bill would be so helpful and deeply appreciated right now. I am sorry for not making this more detailed, but I am honestly in a state of total panic. Our Honey Hawk is our baby, and seeing her this suddenly sick is just absolutely terrifying. The emergency fee alone just to get her in the door is $190, and will go up from there for diagnostics or possible hospitalization. Every dollar counts and makes a huge difference. The links to where a donation can be made toward Honey Hawk's emergency bill can be found below. Little Bluestem Sanctuary is a 501c3 Non-Profit, and donations are tax deductible. We will do absolutely everything and anything necessary to make sure our girl is alright. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued care and support of the birds at LBS, we would not be able to do what we do for them without you.

https://gofund.me/a0f6d1c2

https://littlebluestemsanctuary.org/donations/donate/