Rooster rescued from a coyote, using Manuka honey

[Sunshine Flock]

No worries...CarolinaSunshineFlock.

Our two humble acres, existed without fencing for 15 years. We could only afford to fence a backyard perimeter after the first 3 years. There was all manner of wildlife trampling through property: Deer, racoons, coyotes, bob cats, dogs and skunks!

Property improvements are no problem, when finances are of no concern. But, for the rest of us, they are works in progress.

I used to think, wow...if only I could win the Lottery. What I could do with that money. But now, I have come to realize, I did win a Lottery! How blessed I am to have ended up in this peaceful place. Nature abounds in all it's glory...and all it's harshness too. But it's a package deal. Living in any rural or wild environment is a struggle.

Protect your animals as best as you can. Then, remember...there is no such thing as 100% safe.

I know, I rescued one of my roosters three years ago, when a coyote jumped our fence at two o'clock in the afternoon! Then, this August my beloved hen was taken from my back yard in the late afternoon, by a bobcat that jumped over our fence. I tried to get to her, but sadly, I was just not able to save her. I was working outside supervising both times. Who's fault is it?

There is no fault, just nature. Focus on your blessings, Henry lives!

God Bless and peace to you!

P.S. Now, get some sleep.

You are so beautiful and inspiring, as always!

Coyotes and all wildlife for that matter are beloved creatures. I don't exactly want to run up and hug one, but my husband says he wouldn't be surprised if I did that some day. A cougar caught a small animal last year. It was a horrible, long death. But I stepped closer so I could hear better in appreciation of the life and death cycle that allows us to keep enjoying the wild ones.

That was probably a really dumb thing to do.

Anyway, I woke up to mad clucking from the hen house this morning. The chickens decided it'd be really cool to scare the pants off me and molt as eight month olds, so no one's laying eggs these days. Rosemary always mad clucks when she lays an egg, and then Henry sympathy mad clucks in response.

But no eggs, so this could only mean one thing. Just as I ran outside I could hear a coyote sized creature crashing into the woods. No signs of a chicken run or coop breach, but the hens were all unsettled. For storm windows I screwed sheets of Lexan on the exterior of their windows. They now have beautiful light in the mornings and a nice view.

Well, this morning's view must have been a coyote. When I took the dogs out a few minutes later, the tracker chihuahua darted over to the chicken run and sniffed the entire perimeter and stopped in front of the door to the coop. So that confirms that.

I didn't know hens mad cluck as a warning sign when a predator is nearby. Henry was in his room and I kept hearing scratches and pecks on the glass door. He mad clucked longer than I think he ever has before.

Now, swinging things back to Henry's wounds, it's hard assessing progress because of all the feathers that are growing, and also because they've healed so nicely. The last of the scabs fell off and the puncture wound now looks more like a scrapped knee would than a deep injury that was life threatening. It's remarkable to see this in his eighth week of recovery.

I'm definitely going to post some photos if I can manage to get Henry the Wounded Warrior to hold still long enough.

Time to build a roost and pour myself another cup of hot chocolate, folks.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

beautiful post Hen Pen Jem!

Hey, we wrote "beautiful" at the same time without having seen each other's comments!

 

[Birdinhand]

I'd love to see some video of him scratching around and moving about! it's kind of fun to extrapolate on what is going on in his foot. it would also be fun to see the logs and stuff you've set up for him to explore and exercise on.

 

[biophiliac]

I'd love to see some video of him scratching around and moving about! it's kind of fun to extrapolate on what is going on in his foot. it would also be fun to see the logs and stuff you've set up for him to explore and exercise on.

x2

 

[Sunshine Flock]

No video yet, but today I found Henry sitting in a custom dug hole. I was working on installing a new roost in the chicken coop (do I really need to keep saying chicken?) and kept Henry near me where I could easily see him. I turned my back for a bit and when I turned to check on my feathered ward, there he was in a self-dug dust bath hole.

I don't see individual toes moving on the injured leg, but this pretty much confirms my observation from the other day: Henry Houdini is now using his right leg unit as a scratching device and dust bath digger.

And now for a question.

We've had a curious turn of events. I eat pretty much every meal in Henry's room, and I've slept in here for a few weeks. I transitioned back to my own room, but here I am once again enjoying a late dinner and sharing some egg with Henry.

Actually I don't have much choice about the egg. Whenever we have eggs Henry chirps and whistles and hobbles over to the plate and eats right alongside me.

Anyway, whenever I cough in a particular way — urgent, choking on something, desperate sounding — Henry stands up and starts chattering his beak and then he does a serious round of mad clucking. And whenever Henry mad clucks, the chihuahua units start howling.

Did I mention that before? They used to never howl. They were howl-less canines, and now they howl in accompaniment to Henry's mad clucking, which is usually an accompaniment to Rosemary the Head Hen's mad clucking when she lays an egg.

They're molting. No eggs. I'm hungry.

But I'm not kidding. This is a new development. I just now coughed, kind of a quick throat clearing with some urgency. Henry is in roost mode, so he's whistling and beak chattering, but one more cough and he'll suddenly be upright and mad clucking like crazy.

What does this mean? I'm prone to sudden coughing. It's a lifelong problem. I can sneeze and he hardly even looks at me, but when I cough Henry reacts as if I'm about to vaporize or something.

I just did it again without even meaning to. Henry's too tired to mad cluck, but he's chatter-whistling through his closed beak and looks worried.

Am I now an honorary chicken? Am I part of his flock? Will I one day wake up feathered and beaked? I'd like to know!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

And one more update.

I heard lots of scratching and chirps coming from Henry's room and guess where I found him? Standing on top of the Brinsea warmer I keep turned on its side for him.

It's not stable as a roost.

How the heck did he do that in the dark? How is he even doing that at all? I didn't hear any wing flapping, but even with wings, how?

So the husband is being a good sport and is assembling a proper roost for Henry. I kept putting this off, thinking no way can he safely roost in the dark.

The bird knows best, folks. The bird knows best.

 

[Birdinhand]

sounds like henry is making advances by leaps and bounds, literally...such good news! I'd run with it, I think he's ready for more activity.

 

[Birdinhand]

maybe start him with a 2"X4" perch wide side facing up and as he gets more balance turn the narrow side up and then as he gets that down move to something rounded, a large dowel perhaps and see if his foot begins to grip it, or if he can at least lay his foot down around it... you get the idea, progression! as far as how fast to progress, it will come down to what he can handle. maybe in making series of challenge bars for him, you can experiment with what he can handle and go accordingly. you might be surprised at how fast he gets better at this point, some times a whole bunch of function comes back all at once and some times its a long gradual process. sounds like he's in a rapid change phase which is wonderful and it may be important to ramp up with it. there is a little bit of a sense with these sort of things that it's a race against time to get function back before the muscles weaken too far and the door to healing closes.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

maybe start him with a 2"X4" perch wide side facing up and as he gets more balance turn the narrow side up and then as he gets that down move to something rounded, a large dowel perhaps and see if his foot begins to grip it, or if he can at least lay his foot down around it... you get the idea, progression! as far as how fast to progress, it will come down to what he can handle. maybe in making series of challenge bars for him, you can experiment with what he can handle and go accordingly. you might be surprised at how fast he gets better at this point, some times a whole bunch of function comes back all at once and some times its a long gradual process. sounds like he's in a rapid change phase which is wonderful and it may be important to ramp up with it. there is a little bit of a sense with these sort of things that it's a race against time to get function back before the muscles weaken too far and the door to healing closes.

See, this is why I'm so grateful for this discussion. I knew nothing about muscle atrophy and nerve healing prior to Henry's attack. This has been incredibly insightful.

We installed a 2x3 piece of wood with the flat side up. I've been using this size wood for window framing and other projects in the coop. It's slightly less bulky for a small coop but just as strong.

I was wondering about making the perch less slippery for him. I won't use products that aren't non-toxic, so I doubt it's something I'll be able to do. But I do observe this as an issue for him. I guess I can only protect Henry so much.

Also, it'll take forever to upload, but I took a new video of Henry digging holes. Get the popcorn, folks! I'm just kidding. I would have rolled my eyes at a video of a chicken digging a hole prior to this whole ordeal, but now it's entertaining and a big deal.

Coming soon to a home theatre near you!

 

[WhatAboutBob?]

maybe start him with a 2"X4" perch wide side facing up and as he gets more balance turn the narrow side up and then as he gets that down move to something rounded, a large dowel perhaps and see if his foot begins to grip it, or if he can at least lay his foot down around it... you get the idea, progression! as far as how fast to progress, it will come down to what he can handle. maybe in making series of challenge bars for him, you can experiment with what he can handle and go accordingly. you might be surprised at how fast he gets better at this point, some times a whole bunch of function comes back all at once and some times its a long gradual process. sounds like he's in a rapid change phase which is wonderful and it may be important to ramp up with it. there is a little bit of a sense with these sort of things that it's a race against time to get function back before the muscles weaken too far and the door to healing closes.

That's all I have to say about this. It perfectly sums up what I was going to say.