Exactly How It Happened
February 2006
by Jackie Lynn Calhoun
Arkadelphia, AR

A little background

    I went back into my records and learned that I paid $2.35 for Boo Boo that was one of eight birds that I purchased at the local farm and ranch supply store on September 24, 2005. Boo Boo was sold to me as a Banty. I got four Banties, one “heavy” breed, one Guinea, and two ducks. I just got them on the spur of the moment mainly so the grandkids and we all could enjoy seeing them grow up.

    We named them as we learned their personalities. Of the four banties, Boo Boo is the spooky one, Sugar is light colored and of a sweet disposition, Spice is tan colored and of a pleasant disposition, and Sweet Pea is the tiny one of a seemingly unusually sweet disposition to come up to you and allow you to pick her up, but she likes to just peck the fire out of you. Bo Bo is the bully one (the “heavy” who is turning out to be a huge, beautiful rooster), BB is the Guinea with the tiny head, and Dumplin’ is the white duck and Dooley is the crested mallard type duck. Happily, Dumplin’ is a female and Dooley is a male, so perhaps we will have little quacks in the future. I would like to see Bo Bo and Boo Boo get together and have some Bo-betts and Boo-betts.

    My wife and I have enjoyed raising them in a big cardboard box on the front porch. At this writing they are approximately 4 ½ to 5 months old and run in the fenced side and back yard. We can watch them out of the bedroom and bathroom windows.

    We also have four other chickens that have a story of their own, Reggie, Pedro, Maria, and Blanca. We also have five rabbits; BabyLove is the momma with Ashley, Snowball Cola Roja, and Little Bit.

The incident


    On January 31 a series of events occurred concerning a drowned chicken named Boo Boo that resulted in it's resuscitation and recovery. Barbara Slaughter and my daughter Angela at Lasting Impressions Hair Salon, decide the local paper should hear about what happened. An excellent article by Dolores Harrington of the Daily Siftings Herald, was picked up by the AP News network along with CNN, CBC, Drudges, and others. KTHV-TV channel 11 picked it up and Alyson Courtney did an excellent job producing the TV news clip of the event (which can be seen at www.kthv.com "Fowl Mouth-to-Mouth"). During all this, radio stations across the United States and from several different countries called us for live and taped interviews of just what happened. I just told it like it happened, and Sis just told the part she played in it like it happened, and it has made for a delightfully humorous and positive story with wonderful radio hosts all over the world that everybody has loved. Here is how it happened.
    Around noon, I found one of our pet chickens, Boo Boo, in the little pool in back of the house, floating head down and wings spread out. I picked it up out of the water and spoke to it, "In the name of Jesus, you will live and not die." I thought, "The Heimlich," and proceeded to squeeze and shake it, continuing to speak to it. It twitched, but I didn't know if it was the twitch of life or the twitch of death. I took it around to the front porch where Becky was sitting and I continued to do this and speak to it in the name of Jesus and praying in the Spirit. I felt kind of silly doing this to a chicken, but losing one of our pet chickens in this way was not part of the abundant life that Jesus promised. So I did this a few minutes then left it wrapped in a towel, just laying there. I told Becky as I left to go back to work, "Be speaking the Word over it." I didn't know what else I could do. I thought about using a vacuum cleaner to suck the water out, but I figured I would get a lot more than water, so I didn't do that. As I drove away, I thought about mouth-to-mouth, but I had to get back to work so I kept driving.
    My sister happened along probably about 30 to 45 minutes later. Becky told her what had happened, so she, a retired nurse, decided to administer mouth to beak CPR. When she blew into it, as she put it, "That dad-gum chicken's eyes popped open." She said she blew again and it's eyes popped open again. She did this for a few minutes, then she had to leave. The chicken was still wrapped up in the towel. Sis told Becky we needed to keep it warm.
    A little later I came back home to get some materials for a job I was doing, and found the chicken still alive. Becky told me what Sis had done. I thought to myself, "Well, I thought about mouth-to-mouth when I drove off. If she can do it, I can too." So I positioned myself outside so my daughter, her friend, and my wife could not see what I was doing. I felt kinda silly doing this, but for fifteen minutes I did CPR on that chicken, blowing and squeezing. Then I had to leave again. I laid it in the house wrapped in the towel near a heater.
    When I came in that evening, that chicken was still alive! I dried it off with a hair dryer real good and laid it in a cardboard box with a towel in it, and some feed and water, although, all it could do was just lay there. We called this box ICU.
    Next morning it was still alive. It's feet had curled up and it just flopped around a little, but basically just lay there. It was a pretty day, so I sat her in the box out on the front porch in the sunshine. As I looked at her laying there, the thought crossed my mind that we were just going to have a crippled chicken on our hands, and that it would have been better to just let her be drowned. But I just refused to entertain that thought, and I think I even spoke out that this chicken would fully recover. I left and went to work.
    Becky was doing her daily Bible reading out on the front porch with Boo Boo laying in the box beside her. As she was reading she happened to get to the part about Lazarus being raised from the dead (reading silently to herself),and that chicken suddenly let out a squawk and flopped her wings and jumped up on the edge of the box and perched there. Becky excitedly called me on the cell phone explaining what had happened. Sure enough, when I came in that evening, Boo Boo was very wobbly, falling and flopping around, but she was definitely making a recovery. We nicknamed her "Lazarette."
    At this writing, Boo Boo is getting stronger every day. Bo Bo, a rooster of her same age, is very interested in her, staying close to her cage, obviously impressed with what he sees inside. I don't know if he knows that she has become a world-famous celebrity, or if his attraction to her is simply nature taking it's course. With her world-wide notoriety we are now scheduled to appear with her on the Jay Leno Show in LA on Friday, March 10 .
    We desire that through this story people will continue to smile and laugh and have a good time with the incident, and that a permanent good come out of this that will benefit millions. Since we got the baby chickens so the grandkids could enjoy watching them grow up, with a world-wide platform, I would like to do something on a large scale for suffering children. I would like to start by selling Boo Boo T-shirts and other articles to be able to share stuffed Boo Boo Birds and the story of Boo Boo to give children hope that through faith in the name of Jesus and working together with natural means, they too, can make a full recovery. Also, through our missionary work, we have contacts in India through which we could greatly benefit children there. I don't know how many lives can be encouraged and enriched through the funny and marvelous story of the resuscitation of Boo Boo the Chicken.
    Boo Boo T-shirts and other articles may be purchased at www.cafepress.com/booboothechick
    For more details on the inner workings of this incident, see "Why, Did I Resuscitate That Chicken?"

No Limits In Christ.                     
Jackie and Becky Calhoun
and Boo Boo.
jackiecalhoun@gmail.com
Boo Boo photo session

Boo Boo during an outside "photo session."


copyright © 2006 Jackie Lynn Calhoun

Back to index            Next article