Rooster with Ear Wax!

[JillsChicks]

I did a search and got no hits on this topic, so here's my story...

Our pet rooster Buck Buck often holds his beak open and then shakes his head back and forth. It's quite funny. I almost thought I had a rooster with a tick. But yesterday as I sat with the good ol' boy in my lap, I noticed that his ear feathers were gunky. Looking closer I discovered they were encrusted with dark, hardened wax! I looked over the other seven chickens - no wax there. So I ran into the house and got a little squeeze bottle of ear wax remover and then gently messaged a few drops onto each ear. Buck Buck closed his eyes and rubbed against my fingers. It took some careful picking and massaging, but I got one ear unplugged. At that point Buck Buck looked around with the most startled look on his handsome rooster face! "What's that?! I can hear again!" he seemed to say! It was so funny! The other ear is more clogged so I just let the remover sit on it and will check it out this morning.

I told some friends at a Christmas party last night how I removed my rooster's ear wax - you should have seen the looks! They think I'm nuts. But I love my rooster and he loves me! Bye!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Good job!!!
When I first got Penny, she had a goopy ear...I just used water, but if there's enough wax for a candle, the ear wax remover was a great idea.

 

[pattycake]

Wow! My rooster shakes his head the same way! I checked him carefully for mites, and didn't find anything, but I never considered EARWAX!

I don't even know how to find a chicken's ear.

All right, now I'm off to the coop with a Q-tip!

 

[silkiechicken]

Interesting, the only "ear wax" I've ever heard of or seen was actually an ear infection. Keep an eye on him to see if it doesn't go away.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Right at the edge of thier faces, there's a clump of feathers that protects the ear canal...you can just push the feathers aside and take a quick look.

 

[michaelvcrowder]

a few weeks ago i noticed chicken little had big globs of ear was on the sides of his head. i tried picking at it gently with my fingers but this seemed to bother him. i left it alone and was going to try and figure out what to do about it. a few days later it was gone and has not come back. don't know how he got rid of the big blobs but apparently his ears are self cleaning models. its nice to have a chicken with some luxury options.
michael

 

[Smitty's Farm]

Quote:
Hey, How is Buck Buck doing? Thanks for sharing your experience. I love this site. No matter how much I read in all my chicken books, I always learn something new here that never comes up in the info books.

I was gone this weekend on a cold Girl Scout camp out, so I just went outside to spend some quality times with my chickens today and I noticed that my rooster (Napoleon) was doing the same thing. (he was moving his head side to side) He's never done this before. We've been having a lot of rainy, drizzly weather. I was just wondering if he had gotten some water in his ears.

I'm going to head back out to take a look at his ears.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[dlhunicorn]

mites can also get at birds ears and cause irritation and infection... if your bird has not recently had a respiratory problem (most often associated with ear infections) then it is probably due to parasites.

 

[JillsChicks]

Ok, so now that I've gotten most of the sticky, hardened ear wax out of Buck Buck's ears with warm water compresses and the ear wax remover, how do I know if he's got an infection?!!!
What do I do for an ear infection???

When I put the compresses on his ears today he closed he eyes and pressed into the compress - poor guy. I'll check him again tomorrow morning...

You'll never guess what... I'm married to a vet... but he doesn't do birds - only large and small animals, no avian... he jokes that a sick bird is a dead bird... In this case it may do me no good to be "sleeping with the vet" who keeps eyeing Buck Buck for the stew pot...

 

[ozark hen]

that is a good one!!