CorinneBHappy
In the Brooder
- Feb 26, 2020
- 17
- 17
- 13
Help!! Woke this morning to discover the auto door on my coop didn't close, or was pried open by a fox (or two) 
We lost 4 birds and luckily 4 survived but our Rooster is not doing so well at all. He's less than a year old Freedom Ranger, but fully grown or close to it...and up until this morning was healthy and heavy and happy.
We live in New England and it was thankfully seasonably warm last night but still cold and it rained all night. When I came out for work he was standing near my car, soaking wet and freezing. He appears to have stood there all night and his neck was drooping quite horribly. He was standing and seemed unharmed from the attack in terms of wounds. I found another hen hiding in our wood pile, thankfully unharmed...and a few more in the coop totally unscathed. I did find 3 separate piles of feathers in the yard and no sign of the other birds...fox prints everywhere in the snow so it's a clear predator attack.
I wrapped him in a towel and placed some fresh hay in the integration coop and put some food and water in there and had to leave for work. I came home and honestly was surprised to find him even still alive. He is drying out and seems to be breathing ok and I'm less convinced that his droopiness is from being cold from the soaking wetness. His neck is still not functioning much on it's own. He is mainly laying down and favoring his head on the ground, eyes closed. He is somewhat alert and mainly appears to be unable to walk steadily due to not being able to lift his head. He's not in a good way at all.
I read up on Wry Neck though this is clearly an injury from either the scare or perhaps frantically flying when the attack happened. Not sure if that would be classified the same way.
When I came home from work I found another hen with him (I left the door cracked in case he wanted to get out of the integration coop). He appeared to be snuggling up to her and vice versa so I assumed they are best buddies and that he's safe enough to sleep in the big coop with the surviving hens. Knowing it's not a disease I figured they'd be ok, and having suffered the scare together I figured strength in numbers. I tightened everything up, screwed some ply over the door opening, screwed the nesting box lid completely shut and then placed him in there once everything was locked and dark. The other birds seemed to come right over and bed down next to him. I am hoping they do their part to warm him up even further and the big coop at least is chock full of fresh straw and is their familiar place.
I'll remove him in the morning no matter what his state and place him back in the integration coop with some fresh water and food. It sounds like the right thing to do is wet the food and give supplements...Vitamin E and Selenium are what I'm reading but I'm not 100% positive that's the right thing to do in the case of wry neck from sudden injury...is this correct?
My real question is, is there anything else I should or can be doing for him? Should I splint his neck? Separate him? (I am not worried about the hens trampling, as they are very light and small and very mellow birds)...What about heat? Our coop doesn't have a heat lamp and it's not really feasible with the distance from the house etc..Should I bring him inside if possible? Would that make much of a difference in the wry neck department? Assuming he will heal, what's a reasonable time frame to expect him to perk back up? and, anything I can look for that may mean he obviously won't get better? Most of all I don't want him suffering...
Thanks in advance for reading this and helping out with what to do for the Roo. If he survives this he's getting a name...he'll never be my food after I nurse him back to health! Chicken God Willing he makes it.
We lost 4 birds and luckily 4 survived but our Rooster is not doing so well at all. He's less than a year old Freedom Ranger, but fully grown or close to it...and up until this morning was healthy and heavy and happy.We live in New England and it was thankfully seasonably warm last night but still cold and it rained all night. When I came out for work he was standing near my car, soaking wet and freezing. He appears to have stood there all night and his neck was drooping quite horribly. He was standing and seemed unharmed from the attack in terms of wounds. I found another hen hiding in our wood pile, thankfully unharmed...and a few more in the coop totally unscathed. I did find 3 separate piles of feathers in the yard and no sign of the other birds...fox prints everywhere in the snow so it's a clear predator attack.
I wrapped him in a towel and placed some fresh hay in the integration coop and put some food and water in there and had to leave for work. I came home and honestly was surprised to find him even still alive. He is drying out and seems to be breathing ok and I'm less convinced that his droopiness is from being cold from the soaking wetness. His neck is still not functioning much on it's own. He is mainly laying down and favoring his head on the ground, eyes closed. He is somewhat alert and mainly appears to be unable to walk steadily due to not being able to lift his head. He's not in a good way at all.
I read up on Wry Neck though this is clearly an injury from either the scare or perhaps frantically flying when the attack happened. Not sure if that would be classified the same way.
When I came home from work I found another hen with him (I left the door cracked in case he wanted to get out of the integration coop). He appeared to be snuggling up to her and vice versa so I assumed they are best buddies and that he's safe enough to sleep in the big coop with the surviving hens. Knowing it's not a disease I figured they'd be ok, and having suffered the scare together I figured strength in numbers. I tightened everything up, screwed some ply over the door opening, screwed the nesting box lid completely shut and then placed him in there once everything was locked and dark. The other birds seemed to come right over and bed down next to him. I am hoping they do their part to warm him up even further and the big coop at least is chock full of fresh straw and is their familiar place.
I'll remove him in the morning no matter what his state and place him back in the integration coop with some fresh water and food. It sounds like the right thing to do is wet the food and give supplements...Vitamin E and Selenium are what I'm reading but I'm not 100% positive that's the right thing to do in the case of wry neck from sudden injury...is this correct?
My real question is, is there anything else I should or can be doing for him? Should I splint his neck? Separate him? (I am not worried about the hens trampling, as they are very light and small and very mellow birds)...What about heat? Our coop doesn't have a heat lamp and it's not really feasible with the distance from the house etc..Should I bring him inside if possible? Would that make much of a difference in the wry neck department? Assuming he will heal, what's a reasonable time frame to expect him to perk back up? and, anything I can look for that may mean he obviously won't get better? Most of all I don't want him suffering...
Thanks in advance for reading this and helping out with what to do for the Roo. If he survives this he's getting a name...he'll never be my food after I nurse him back to health! Chicken God Willing he makes it.
