We have all heard the age-old question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”  Here is a reason you may not have heard before: to try out its new prosthetic leg.  

I came across a Reuters story published earlier this month about a three-month old chicken in Massachusetts who hatched out of her egg with a torn tendon that limits her mobility.  The solution – a $2,500 prosthetic limb made on a 3-D printer.  Yes, that really did say a $2,500 prosthetic limb made on a 3-D printer which is, not all that surprisingly,  a first-of-its-kind procedure.

When the chicken’s owner took the young chicken to the veterinarian,  the options were a prosthetic or euthanasia. In a phone interview, the own stated, “It was a no-brainer, she needs to be able to live a normal life.”  Given those options, I might have been tempted to call Colonel Sanders.  However, the owner apparently has a farm that “specializes in chicken rehabilitation.” Yes, that really did say a farm that  specializes in chicken rehabilitation.

As I read this article, I was left with a number of questions:

1. What eggs-act-ly is a “normal life” for a chicken?
2. A farm that specializes in chicken rehabilitation? – are these chickens that have run a fowl of the law?
3. What does a 3-D printer drumstick taste like?
4. I am concerned that this may only be the beginning – as the technique is improved and the costs come down, will we one day go to KFC for a bucket of 3-D printer chicken?
5. I also realized that if they perfect this and KFC starts selling 3-D printer chickens, that could put an end to my life long dream of one day owning a boneless chicken ranch.  (I figure the boneless ones wouldn’t run away.)