Rooster rescued from a coyote, using Manuka honey

[sbhkma]

Eta IMO your attention to his psycho/social needs has been as important as everything else.

Speaking of... I always found my chickens like listening to reggae music. yeah.. I'd keep it on from sunup to bedtime. But it really seems to make them perk up!

 

[biophiliac]

biophiliac, you are a wealth of homeopathic info and I'm taking notes in my ever-growing file of not just chicken care, but dogs, cats and horses (and YES I have had not just a chicken in my house, but a horse - my mare and her foal from 30 years ago. I still have the foal although I lost her mom at almost 34 yrs old). CarolinaSunshineFlock, you would have loved to see the expression on visitors when they heard Misty or her foal, Tiffany, whinny. Hilarious doesn't even begin to describe it!

Horses were my first love. Which one is your avatar? (I have been meaning to ask for some time).

 

[sbhkma]

My avatar is Gabe, my rescue Straight Egyptian gelding. I actually got to meet his breeder, who is an amazing woman. I got his papers and found out he has incredible breeding and she had no idea he'd fallen into such a bad state. Since I've had him, he's filled out, grown up and even been a model for a magazine shoot! My 30 yr old who was born in our basement has been a model for a magazine as well as a post card. Such divas I swear!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Just finished reading. I would read your thread no matter what the topic, you are that good a writer!!
The advice you have received is superb.
Your nursing skills are inspiring as is Henry's will to live.
Earlier on you wondered if anyone was reading ... did you notice your thread has 3,330 views
Possibly in the near future some physical therapy in salt water to strengthen his atrophied muscles in both legs ... seems like the bath gives him an opportunity to exercise/move the legs. Like people exercise in a pool to build muscle without too much pressure on joints.

And finally, I will ask ... In my next life, can I come back as one of your chickens???
Eta IMO your attention to his psycho/social needs has been as important as everything else.

Why, thank you so much!

And as long as you lay golden eggs with sapphire yolks, you're more than welcome to come back as one of my hens!!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Speaking of... I always found my chickens like listening to reggae music. yeah.. I'd keep it on from sunup to bedtime. But it really seems to make them perk up!

Reggae all day would put me in the infirmary.

Some of Bach's inventions, however . . .

 

[Sunshine Flock]

P.S. I promise I won't post any more moving emoticons. They're already making me want to strangle my pet rock.

And I wanted to add that the redness in Henry's injured leg has dulled a bit and isn't as brilliant red as it looks in the photos I posted a few pages back.

Also, I'd welcome some tips on how to give homeopathic pellets (or anything for that matter: water with a syringe, etc.) to chickens, for future reference. The pellets are teeny tiny, and my fingers are clumsy, so I resorted to using tweezers.

The idea was to use the tweezers to toss the pellet inside his mouth and time it just right with the split second his beak would open for me. But before I had a chance to do that, Henry took one look at the curious white "insect" treat wedged in the tweezers and beaked it into his mouth.

Problem solved. He now does this every time.

Is it tweezer or tweezers? Scissor or scissors?

Anyway, beak tucked into wing, human blissed out on a late night Starbucks chai, salt lamp on for a nice, comfy glow, and this concludes day fourteen of Operation: Save the Dang Bird.

G'night yet again.

ETA: I recall reading some years back that it's best not to directly touch homeopathic medicine. So tweezers are a good idea, then?

 

[Sunshine Flock]

G'morning, folks.

I'm grateful for BYC and the opportunity to record all the nuances of Henry's healing process. I came close to putting him down, and there were several days where I thought for sure my boy was worsening and would soon be swapping out his rooster wings for those other wings.

But Henry continues to breathe air and stay strong, and I'm hopeful for his recovery.

That said I also understand there are always the unknowns, and although I've found some peace in this experience and have considerably relaxed into the daily routines I've created for his care, I know he's vulnerable.

My focus at this point is curing his boredom, socializing him with his flock, and maintaining his healing regimen.

I'd love to tuck this entire experience, and what is still to come, between the covers of a little book, called "That Rooster Henry" in keeping with the title of my favorite book "That Quail Robert" — and I'd love for some of the proceeds to benefit this forum and in particular a resource library here on natural healing, with a focus on homeopathic medicine.

For now I'm going to stop my numerous postings.

I frequent the emergencies forum and have responded to people in need of urgent feedback. Only so many discussions can fit on the front page of that forum, and this one is there a lot. Henry has overcome some serious injuries, and for now I feel I'd rather not hog up space on the front page and would prefer to let this discussion go for a bit.

Meanwhile, Henry Houdini the Wonder Rooster thanks you from the depths of his heart, wherever it's located. I'm still trying to figure out air sacs; those things are curious contraptions. But I know there's a beating heart in there somewhere.

And I thank you, too.

Peace and glad tidings.

 

[Birdinhand]

by all means take breaks as you need them, but don't you worry, electrons take up very little space for when you feel the urge to write, we are here to read and cheer on! I raise a glass and a prayer to you and Henry!

 

[ChuSayBok]

Oh. My. Goodness. Poor baby. I'm guessing the normal color of his skin is pink? I'd probably be giving him goldenseal orally in addition to the external application. If it weren't covering so much area, I probably would have used peroxide (though I know some people don't agree with this due to it being a tissue destroyer,) but there is so much area here. The epsom salt is probably much better. Kudos for sticking with that. The yellow may be jaundice; I couldn't tell if the whites of his eyes were yellowing - if so that's an indicator. I'm hoping it's more like when a bruise is healing; it turns blue/purple/red then starts to look more greenish-yellow, which is because the hemoglobin is being reabsorbed/recycled. I'm hoping the red is the same thing, BUT,

In hoomanz blood poisoning is a very serious, life-threatening condition characterized by red streaks and other things… I tried to find some material, but it's difficult to get a website that's not littered w/ ads and garbage.. I'm being pulled away, so I can't finish posting, but I would say keep a check on his temp. If he starts running fevers, be on point to find treatment for sepsis (which is generally antibiotics.) If you can keep it controlled with natural stuff, that's best IMO.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

It's time for a Henry update, folks, exactly three weeks after the coyote attack.

The photos below are disturbing, but I assure you, as of today, I'm seeing absolutely no indication that the infection in his legs has spread and gone systemic. That could change in a heartbeat, and as I've stated before, I don't intend for my dear boy to be a science experiment, so I've been preparing myself for a swift and humane end should we reach that point.

If life is in the details, it's how we choose to end an animal's suffering that deserves our ultimate attention and care.

So behold that rooster, Henry, but first here's a roundup of what in tarnation I've been doing to keep the rooster henchman at bay.

Not much.

Manuka honey with a deep coating on the drumsticks, snugly wrapped; epsom salt soaks; and homeopathic remedies.

Henry's right leg went from totally limp to flickers of movement, courtesy of the Hypericum remedy; to full use of his hip and the ability to lift his leg and shift it here and there as he hobbles around on his good leg. The good leg has regained some strength and can stand up tall at attention — with the rooster still attached. It's not a free roaming leg.

But the patch of redness on the good leg has worsened, and the other leg isn't looking too pretty, and so here are my working theories:

He had a faint soft pink patch on his right leg (the worser of the two) before the coyote attack, and now look at that leg. I peeled off some dead scales, hence the raw wounds. I didn't realize they peel off until I accidentally flipped one up and knocked it off into my hand. I read about healing scabs versus not so good scabs and decided the scales were blocking (not protecting) access to the wounds, so off they went. This makes the wounds better capable of receiving honey.

I also discovered what may have been bumble foot on the bottom of the lame leg (lame from the knee on down), minus the telltale round sore. It wasn't round, but he definitely had something going on down there. I used Prid, a homeopathic drawing salve, for three days and was able to easily pry off thick pieces and one bigger piece, and underneath found smooth skin. Or scales. I'm new to scales and don't always know what I'm looking at.

Bumble foot could explain the swollen leg and infection. They both are displaying the same red patches, and yet the good leg has no indication of bumble anything. And scaly leg mites are another possibility for both legs.

And then comes the really fun stuff: Merek's. It's worth considering, and I've done heaps and tons of reading on the topic this past week and know not to discount it as an option.

Oh, and I found a series of three black dots on the good leg, just below the growing patch of red. I removed them with tweezers and examined the things with a magnifying glass, and for a good couple of minutes thought Henry had vampire insects sucking out his life through his leg.

But then I asked myself, "Could they be new leg feather starts?" And sure enough that's what they were. Welsummers aren't supposed to have feathers on their legs, but Henry has a few teeny tufts here and there, and now he has three less.

The thing with horrific wounds courtesy of a coyote is the distraction it creates from preexisting problems.

Anyway, my really quick update is now really long, so without further ado here are some photos for you to ponder.

And let me just say, if you want to humiliate a rooster, shove him in a vintage floral sling, string him up, give him some cooked egg just before the photo shoot, photograph him beak facing forward, and post it for the world to see.

Okay, here we go.