Rooster Survived the coyote attack but now can't lift its head

[cgtara3]

How is he doing? Any news?

 

[jerseygirl1]

I noticed when these birds go into shock, they almost become comatose for at least a week. Mine was dropped by a hawk, and he had his eyes closed for an entire week in a dog crate with yogurt, vitamins and feed. Took awhile, but gradually he came back to normal. Hopefully yours is just in shock

 

[OhioChickToo]

Our Buff Roo has made an almost complete recovery--thank you, all of you, who were so encouraging. He is now master of roost when the Jersey Giant Roo isn't watching him, and he is back to his old amorous ways. I thought for sure he was a goner but with isolation and his favorite foods and water time and a much higher power did their work-- The entire paddock is now fenced in and we've identified the assailants as foxes--not coyotes--as we originally believed, not that foxes are better--they're murderous when it comes to chicken--their favorite dinner--I can't blame them.

 

[mercedes]

That is wonderful news!!!!!!!!What is his name?I nursed my now 4 year old roo, Liberace,back from injury twice.I know well the relief and gratitude that you feel.Great job.

 

[ttimsan]

I want to thank Ohio for posting this and all who posted replies. This posting was a lifesaver! Hopefully my story will help someone else in a similar situation.

A fox killed a couple of our hens and injured my Buckeye roo back on the 4th. He came running out of the woods with his neck and head hanging down and his head tipped to the side so he could see where he was going. He staggered up to me and laid himself oh, so carefully at my feet. It was utterly sad! He let me pick him up and I brought him up into the house where it was cool (very hot and humid that day) and put him on a clean blanket in an extra large dog crate in my mud room. Got him to take a couple sips of water, put some Neosporin on the puncture wounds on the back of his neck and let him be. I didn't want to handle the rest of his neck too much and cause additional injuries, so I just treated what I could easily see.

Given the fact he couldn't hold his head or neck up and was wheezing like he couldn't get air (he was wheezing for several days after), I was afraid he had a broken or crushed neck and I seriously thought about euthanizing him.

Found this post and decided to take it one day at a time and watch him carefully to make sure he wasn't suffering. He did manage to move himself around from time to time the first couple of days and I encouraged him to drink water by slipping my fingers under his neck to support him and dipping his beak in the bowl of water and most of the time he'd take a little bit. Once he acted like he was choking a bit so we never tried to force fluids into him via a dropper (also kept the water in bowl shallow so he didn't drown himself). We'd find him with his head stretched straight out in front of him, curled around to one side or another and head and neck stretched over the water bowl. So we folded up a hand towel (x4) and left that in the crate - sure enough, he used that frequently as a prop for his head and neck. I think everything was just good and sore and the towel gave him some options to find a comfortable position. He didn't seem to want anything taller than that. Occasionally we'd see him standing with his head hanging down with either his beak on the ground or the top of his head.

We offered him food everday (found out after one taste he did NOT like yogurt - so that was off the menu). On the third night, I offered him applesauce and he tentatively tasted it, and took a few careful bites. A couple hours later that seemed to revive him quite a bit as he had more energy. The 4th day he started pecking at his layer ration and the 5th day we offered some corn. It was a little more than a week before he was eating with some vigor. Resting alot and very quiet.

We did not handle him much at all - again, being very conscious of a possible broken neck - the whole back of his neck did turn a lovely turquoise blue, however. Those puncture wounds never looked infected, but we did start 1/2cc penicillin on the 4th day and gave him shots every other day in the breast for a total of 3 shots. I probably waited too long on that, but again, didn't want to go moving around his neck until I could see what he was comfortable with. Other than that, spent a little time talking with him each day, made sure he had a light on each day for a couple of hours and stroked him a little here and there.

It took about 9-10 days for him to be able to stand fully upright again. We let him try one evening in the coop and the following day in the pen about 10 days after the incident and while he enjoyed it, he was pretty tired out by the next afternoon, trying to hold his head and neck up. So we brought him back up to the house for the next 3 days. He's been back out since Sunday and has done pretty darned well, in spite of the heat. We added a few new girls to his batch and he's well on his way to a full recovery. I'd guess at this point, 16 days into it, he's at 90%.

 

[Echobabe]

You guys, and your roos, are AMAZING! I am incredibly impressed with your cool headed actions and the stamina of these birds

 

[therichhens]

This was so good for me to stumble upon! I've been nursing our Black Copper Maran roo (Apollo) for the last two weeks after he barely survived a fox attack. I found him in the morning, likely several hours after the attack, barely breathing. Four of our 29 hens weren't so lucky. Even though I was certain he was a goner, I brought him into the house to give him a dignified and comfortable place to die. My children were devastated. But here we are, two weeks later, and he is still hanging on. I didn't discover the extent of his wounds (bites to his back and under both wings) until a week into his recovery. They are scabbed over and surrounded by bruising. He eats and drinks on his own now (layer pellet, scrambled eggs, and water with electrolytes and vitamins) but seems almost narcoleptic. He honestly falls asleep mid-eating. He also suffers from balance issues, but I'm guessing this could be because of his weak wings? I would imagine that could throw him off. I started him on Duramycin four days ago but haven't seen a dramatic improvement. Do you think a penicillin injection would be better? I'm just wondering if he is really on the road to recovery or is he suffering and I am just delaying the inevitable. Poor guy. He honestly looks depressed.