One day Chet told me he had a problem with one of his hens. One of the hens had developed a blood blister on its wing. The other chickens were pecking on it. When chickens find blood on another chicken they will peck it until it dies. We had to do something. I asked Chet if it was a good hen and worth saving he said it was a very good one and he wanted to save it.

I went down to the chicken yard to take a look. I decided to amputate the wing just above the wing joint. Chet held the hen on a stump and using an axe I cut the wing off just above the wing joint. I then used a soldering iron to cauterize the stump. The chicken survived the operation and lived on for a long time producing lots of eggs.

From that time on when the boys had a splinter in their hands and came to me to help get it out. The boy without the splinter would shout, "I'll go get the axe." Everyone would then laugh at the memory of the chicken operation.

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