Rooster rescued from a coyote, using Manuka honey

[Sunshine Flock]

Here's a new video of Henry and his remarkable recovery. It's overexposed and makes the wattle and comb look very pale. They're actually a deep red.

If you watch to the end, you'll see him flip around and use the injured right leg as a hole digger and dust bather.

Also, today he walked farther in one go than he has since the attack eight weeks ago. I'd say he covered a good twenty feet without stopping as he followed the flock to the deck. They jumped up to see what I was eating, while he sat down below the step and watched. It's too high for him to scale just yet.

Anyway, here's Henry. He got very chirpy and did a warning cry when he heard himself in the video when I was reviewing it.

G'night, folks, and thank you for being a part of this experience with me.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

P.S. When I say in the video, "You guys, I just fell over," I was talking to the chickens, not the viewing audience. I talk to them all the time. They're great listeners.

 

[biophiliac]

Here's a new video of Henry and his remarkable recovery. It's overexposed and makes the wattle and comb look very pale. They're actually a deep red.

If you watch to the end, you'll see him flip around and use the injured right leg as a hole digger and dust bather.

Also, today he walked farther in one go than he has since the attack eight weeks ago. I'd say he covered a good twenty feet without stopping as he followed the flock to the deck. They jumped up to see what I was eating, while he sat down below the step and watched. It's too high for him to scale just yet.

Anyway, here's Henry. He got very chirpy and did a warning cry when he heard himself in the video when I was reviewing it.

G'night, folks, and thank you for being a part of this experience with me.

Oh yeah!!! The 're-wiring' is proceeding apace, getting all those nerves reconnected from the brain to his toes. The presence of his hens is your best motivator in terms of his activity and PT. I'm gonna risk a prediction that he regains enough use of his leg to 'tread' his hens! I believe that's his personal goal!

And thanks again for the updates- Loved starting the day yesterday with the image of the howling chihuahua chorus led by Henry. And Henry's response to your coughing - does he think it's your version of the egg song?
Sounds like you were unharmed in the fall, please take care as Henry needs you and we rely on your reporting!

 

[WhatAboutBob?]

Henry is showing signs that he is using his foot and leg purposefully, not just trying to feel it's position in space. That is a VERY good step in the right direction! I did see some movement that was muscle driven in the foot itself. He is remarkable, and you are as well!

 

[Birdinhand]

Henry is showing signs that he is using his foot and leg purposefully, not just trying to feel it's position in space. That is a VERY good step in the right direction! I did see some movement that was muscle driven in the foot itself. He is remarkable, and you are as well!

yes, yes and yes, agree 100%. your journey with henry is an inspiration. it's starting to feel more and more possible that he will regain the function of his foot. his foot already appears to be less limp. my whole family watches these videos with anticipation. I was impressed that he appears to be scratching his head at times with both feet. this has got to be a one in a million recovery.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Your eyeballs are seeing things I'm not quite distilling on my own, folks!!

I stare and stare at the dang toes for movement, and nothing. But you're observing some muscle usage in his foot? That's awesome, thank you!

I'm going to do a 'thank you' video for you guys (now I'm talking to you) and film Henry's mad clucking in response to my coughing and the howling chihuahua accompaniment.

Coming soon to a home theater near you, yet again.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I have Henry stories I'm itching to share, but I'm saving them for a special project.

He's simply amazing. He often seems to know when I'm staring at him while he's sleeping. Like just now, he made a soft sound and opened his eyes and looked right at me.

So I was wondering if you feel Henry will ever regain the ability to straighten his injured leg. The angle you see it at in the videos is pretty much full extension. I've been studying chicken legs (the things I say these days) and from what I can tell they straighten with only a very slight crook at the knee.

I'd love some feedback on this. Thank you.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

This is just too much, folks. The bird knows when I'm looking at him and stops what he's doing to look at me. He's in the brooder on his nighttime bed of soft pine shavings, pecking for food pellets that inevitably sink to the bottom. This is his bedtime routine.

And I'm watching him, and in a matter of a few seconds his eye turns toward me and he stops and then sits up and holds still while looking at me.

I know chickens have eyes like rabbits do. If your flashlight at night detects a single red glowing eye, it's not a cyclops; it's a bunny wabbit. Their eyes are on either side of their head. It looks kind of inconvenient, but I wonder if that's partly how chickens are able to see the teeniest speck fall from my hand and dive for it all at once.

Could the eyeball placement have something to do with his hyperawareness of being watched? Can chickens see shadows and movement through their closed eyelids?

I guess I need to move on from chicken leg education to eyeballs. It's almost unnerving.

Me and Swami Henry Houdini, the All Seeing Chicken, signing off for the night.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I said to my husband tonight, "It's like chickens aren't even human."

I have no idea what I meant.

This is a good read on chicken eyesight:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/information-on-chicken-eyesight.67301/

It's like Henry can anticipate my every move, and I mean like split second fast and even with his eyes closed. I was hoping only he has chicken super powers, but it seems they all pretty much do.

 

[Birdinhand]

you and henry have grown very close through this journey. I do believe it is possible to become so connected to another being that you reach a kind of resonance. it is rarely talked about in medicine and caregiving but it's very real. to help your patient get through the labyrinth of life threatening challanges, you've had to get in it's head and know his feelings intimately. I'd say enjoy the process, keep making discoveries and writing about it and at some point henry will need to return to the coop and I think he is getting there. as a "practitioner" you will need to re-individuate from him, it's part of the caregiving process, important to him regaining his independence. this is an important prorgression for both you and him. you are going to want to consciously begin returning to your normal daily activities, sleeping in your own bed etc. and allowing henry to stay in the coop with the hens more and more. Once he can roost, I'd start by giving him coop time in the late afternoon and seeing if he goes to roost with the others. if you are still worried about what hortense might do in the morning, then I'd go back in later and take him inside to roost alone until you are sure he can fend for himself. you and Henry will always have a special bond, don't worry about losing that, but for him to return to being king of the coop, he needs to be nudged "out of the nest".