Some of you recall that Isaac killed his 20-something week old son, Indy, as Indy was surpassing him in size. Isaac apparently ran and launched himself off the coop ramp, which goes downhill and hit Indy full force in the back. Isaac never willingly shares his five hens, but he has been living with Deacon for a very long time, many months now. He's knocked Deacon off the hens so many times, I've lost count, and the hens never change, never accept Deacon as one of their roosters. They always yell for Ike to rescue them, which he does.
I was letting all the flocks out today after the misting rain quit and was heading for the main coop, pretty much walking right in front of it when I heard a huge commotion in Isaac's side. Most of the time, it's Deacon grabbing a hen, she yells, Ike knocks him off and Deacon then yells and runs off. Today, it sounded different.
I went straight to Ike's coop and when I opened the door, saw all the hens in the right corner looking diagonally across the room. I saw the side of Isaac underneath the bottom rung of the bottom roost bar in a space between the support leg of it and the back wall, really only about a 1' square space. No Deacon. I heard muffled sounds and upon stepping inside and asking "Where is Deacon?", Isaac shifted his weight and Deacon shot out from under him, backwards, to the back corner, obviously hurt. He had been underneath Isaac. Ike is about 9 lbs and Deacon is probably 6 lbs. He didn't stand up all the way and he'd never done that before so I yelled out that Deacon was hurt so DH would hear me over the baby monitor and quickly ran around to open the pop door, knowing they would all run out and we could tend to Deacon.
DH came running down the hill and after some confusing signals, DH thinking old Isaac was hurt, he finally understood and went inside and pulled Deacon out of the corner. He was shaking, his head sort of lolling around on his neck. We took him up toward the house and husband put him on the ground carefully. Deacon did his little dance up to DH as he always does for petting, but he was very shaky and suddenly, he listed to the left and fell on the ground, thrashing around, not able to stand, not able to control his neck. Not a pretty sight. There is no blood, not a scratch on him. Ike just pounced on him and apparently either jerked his head back or just hit him in the right spot, but there wasn't enough room in that location to get enough force to take him out immediately like he did to Indy about a year ago.
We got 2 baby aspirin into Deacon immediately to offset any swelling, not knowing what exactly the injury was, neck or spine, wrapped him in a warm towel and DH sat in his recliner with Deacon for about an hour. He'd shake his head back and forth from time to time-certain movements would prompt an almost Parkinson's-like head movement, then he's settle. When he began to get fidgety, we took him to our late Zane's cage, which I had prepared with deep hay and reptile bulb.
He did stagger a bit when we sat him down, then seemed to catch his balance and crowed, then he shakily walked to his food bowl and started eating his Knockout scratch. When he's turn his head a certain way, it would shake back and forth like a tremor, then he'd catch himself. We had to go to town to get feed and when we got back, he was crowing his heart out. He is standing better and seems okay, but I'm still wondering about swelling.
If he survives this, Deacon will not be going back to live with Isaac and he cannot go live with Rex. Again, I'm going to be asking myself what to do with Deacon. We love this rooster. He is the biggest goober, a true pet rooster. In truth, there is much about Deacon that reminds me of my beloved Zane. He's super smart and friendly and funny and he loves to be petted. Please think good thoughts for Deacon. Good thing I named him after a tough football player!
Here is Deacon Jones, The One Spur Wonder, Goober Extraodinaire:
****you can see the space he was in in the upper left of the first photo, under that roost bar, against the back wall.
I was letting all the flocks out today after the misting rain quit and was heading for the main coop, pretty much walking right in front of it when I heard a huge commotion in Isaac's side. Most of the time, it's Deacon grabbing a hen, she yells, Ike knocks him off and Deacon then yells and runs off. Today, it sounded different.
I went straight to Ike's coop and when I opened the door, saw all the hens in the right corner looking diagonally across the room. I saw the side of Isaac underneath the bottom rung of the bottom roost bar in a space between the support leg of it and the back wall, really only about a 1' square space. No Deacon. I heard muffled sounds and upon stepping inside and asking "Where is Deacon?", Isaac shifted his weight and Deacon shot out from under him, backwards, to the back corner, obviously hurt. He had been underneath Isaac. Ike is about 9 lbs and Deacon is probably 6 lbs. He didn't stand up all the way and he'd never done that before so I yelled out that Deacon was hurt so DH would hear me over the baby monitor and quickly ran around to open the pop door, knowing they would all run out and we could tend to Deacon.
DH came running down the hill and after some confusing signals, DH thinking old Isaac was hurt, he finally understood and went inside and pulled Deacon out of the corner. He was shaking, his head sort of lolling around on his neck. We took him up toward the house and husband put him on the ground carefully. Deacon did his little dance up to DH as he always does for petting, but he was very shaky and suddenly, he listed to the left and fell on the ground, thrashing around, not able to stand, not able to control his neck. Not a pretty sight. There is no blood, not a scratch on him. Ike just pounced on him and apparently either jerked his head back or just hit him in the right spot, but there wasn't enough room in that location to get enough force to take him out immediately like he did to Indy about a year ago.
We got 2 baby aspirin into Deacon immediately to offset any swelling, not knowing what exactly the injury was, neck or spine, wrapped him in a warm towel and DH sat in his recliner with Deacon for about an hour. He'd shake his head back and forth from time to time-certain movements would prompt an almost Parkinson's-like head movement, then he's settle. When he began to get fidgety, we took him to our late Zane's cage, which I had prepared with deep hay and reptile bulb.
He did stagger a bit when we sat him down, then seemed to catch his balance and crowed, then he shakily walked to his food bowl and started eating his Knockout scratch. When he's turn his head a certain way, it would shake back and forth like a tremor, then he'd catch himself. We had to go to town to get feed and when we got back, he was crowing his heart out. He is standing better and seems okay, but I'm still wondering about swelling.
If he survives this, Deacon will not be going back to live with Isaac and he cannot go live with Rex. Again, I'm going to be asking myself what to do with Deacon. We love this rooster. He is the biggest goober, a true pet rooster. In truth, there is much about Deacon that reminds me of my beloved Zane. He's super smart and friendly and funny and he loves to be petted. Please think good thoughts for Deacon. Good thing I named him after a tough football player!
Here is Deacon Jones, The One Spur Wonder, Goober Extraodinaire:
****you can see the space he was in in the upper left of the first photo, under that roost bar, against the back wall.
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