He arrived shortly after the summer solstice of 2016.
My brother was working a construction site, preparing the ground with heavy equipment. Tractors grading the area near a peahens nest.
He worried about the hen and her nest, providing her shade with a makeshift lean-to, bringing her food and water till her brood hatched. Trying his best not to cause her more stress than the work site already brought.
The Full Moon came June 20, 2016. The babes hatched the next morning. Solstice babies.
My brother is an early riser. He arrived at the job site in time to see the peahen and her hatch-lings ready to leave the nest. That is, all except one. A struggling chick that could not follow his family, try as he might.
The hen and siblings waited as long as they could. Seeing the babe could not walk, the family left the chick behind and disappeared into the dry, golden summer brush.
My brother was moved by the little fellow and called me, what to do with the baby that couldn't walk?
He brought the chick to my house. It still had the egg tooth. A small whitish bump on baby birds beaks that they use to break out of the egg shell. The egg tooth is shed a few days after hatching. Presence of an egg tooth helps to age chicks.
The chicks right leg seemed to have no power, no grip and no strength to stand. The babe would wobble, fall and stay in a laying position.
A closer exam of joints and bones showed no obvious breaks or deformities. The leg simply had no power to to grip or bear weight.
Pea chicks are precocial, meaning they are quite independent when hatched. Their eyes are open, they stand and walk within hours of hatching, they are covered in down and feathers appear a few days later and they leave the nest hours after being hatched. Most begin searching for food and feeding on their own unlike altricial birds being born with eyes closed, no feathers and needing much more intensive parenting.
I prepared a commercial baby bird food mix to get some nourishment into the little guy. Filling a small syringe with a watered down version to get fluids into him, I gently pried his beak open and offered a few drops.
The baby closed his eyes, wincing, as if it hurt to swallow the minute offering trickling down his throat. Immediately I knew the homeopathic remedy Baryta Carb would be needed.
Homeopathic Baryta Carbonica is indicated in infancy and old age. Its sphere of influence benefits those backward mentally. Ailments from pressure - the pea hen was stressed by the land movement the construction tractors cause. As a homeopath we often ask the mother what stresses occurred at the time of gestation, this will influence the child. It is a wide sphere of influence our wonderful remedies encompass!
There is mental weakness, bashfulness and aversion to strangers, swollen tonsils - making eating difficult or impossible even when hungry. Hence the painful look in the babes eye when swallowing. Numbness and pain in the feet, an inability to walk, because the being feels infantile-like.
This remedy covers so much more, as our remedies do, but these were the key points that struck me.
I added 1 drop of Baryta Carb. 30c to his gruel and gave the babe a drop of food. He drifted off to sleep - Jackpot! Deep rest is how the body heals.
My brother was able to stick around a while till the babe woke. The little guy stood up, walked and took to pecking at some seed I left in the cage for him. My brother and I smiled, the babe was on its way.
In the months that followed the baby was so sweet and loving. He relished snoozing in the warm summer sun. Critters know how to enjoy the important things in life. The glorious sun imparts its healing rays and health giving Vit. D to strengthen bones and fortify the immune system.
I would take him to the barn to strut his stuff, even at that tiny age he would display his growing tail feathers, following me around as I did my chores. These birds imprint so easily.
Later as he grew he spent time in a outside pen. He often liked to give 3rd eye kisses - head to head, exchanging deep communion.
Then one day the following Spring he gave me the sign it was time to leave. His usual sweetness turned to aloofness. His body changing, his calling undeniable.
Early one morning we took a ride to the hills, his birth site. A flock of lovely pea hens were in an open area, emerald spring grass, the precious Pacific Ocean in the background. I stopped the old El Co, got out, got his crate and set it down. Out he strutted. He never looked back and that's ok. We both knew what needed doing and so it was. That is why I so love the wild ones. They just know.
Shortly before we moved up to Tehachapi, I took a drive to see if I could find my "Big Blue Chicken", as I liked to call him and say a final Good Bye.
I drove around the area calling "CHEE-ken". In a field a far, I spied that beautiful iridescent blue head and neck popping up from the green grass. Craning his neck to see who calls? It most certainly could only be one boy who knew that name. He kept a keen eye on me. I wished him well in his new life, and was so in awe of that 1 dose. Just as Hahnemann guided us. The minimum amount of remedy to incite cure.
While many cases need much more support these days, I always strive to keep to this principle of minimum dose. It always blows people away, that so little can do so much. I simply love that something so diluted, gentle and energetic can inspire health from just 1 drop.
That wondrous bird, my equally wondrous crazy brother and a little thing called Homeopathy.
Thank you Herr Hahnemann!
