Scary!

[WoDia]

I took him off the roost at bedtime and carried him out into the light for a good look. He's fine.

He takes being carried around very calmly, having been removed from the nests every night for weeks when he was a maturing cockerel not quite sure about his welcome on the roosts.

Then I picked up his sons so that they wouldn't get any ideas about being better than he is.

I didn't put any one a scale, but just having them in my arms I can tell that Seti, the black October hatch cockerel, is nearly as big as Rameses already but his brother, Rameses II, isn't as large -- reinforcing my choice of Seti as Rameses's replacement.

Looking forward to all of the future stories and photos of your boys. I’m glad Rameses is fine after such an ordeal.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

No photos, because I was too worried about Rameses's welfare to stop and take them, but I had a frightening incident that could have been a lot worse.

I keep some baling twine hanging on hooks in the coop for use when I need to hang things, tie them up, etc. I don't know how Rameses got access to a strand, but when I went out to tend my birds today I saw him looking wrong -- not moving the way he ought to. I looked closer and found that he'd managed to get both legs totally entangled in some of the baling twine so that he was hobbled down to short steps.

I got one of my sons, who I could trust to work carefully with scissors and wire cutters because he's very neat-handed and precise, grabbed a towel, and caught my big guy without much trouble because he couldn't walk very well.

Rameses didn't panic as I put him on his back, wrapped a towel loosely around him, and arranged him so that I could hold him in one arm and control his feet with the other as my son freed him. There are a couple slightly irritated spots on his feet, but nothing serious.

Possibly the trickiest bit was getting him freed from the towel, turned back over, and set down safely without him panicking and hurting either himself or me. I was really afraid that he'd flap and break a wing or kick and spur me, but it worked out and he's moving around the coop reminding his sons that he's still boss.

It would have been interesting to get a weight on the big guy, but I wasn't going to put him through that after the trauma of having his legs tangled. I'll have a look at him on the roost tonight to see how his feet are.

I've had birds get stuck like that. Usually the most stressful part for them is catching them to cut it off

 

[3KillerBs]

I've had birds get stuck like that. Usually the most stressful part for them is catching them to cut it off

He was too hobbled to move away very fast so I just reached down and picked him up.

I can't normally catch him -- none of my birds are pets to the point that I can just pick them up -- but he's usually pretty good about being held once he's caught.

When he had that incident this winter I was carrying him around every night reminding him that I wasn't an enemy and talking to him about how he could be replaced because he had sons. He never tried to get out of my arms then.

He was only 20 weeks in this photo. Now he's MUCH larger but still just as calm being carried.