In more spur news: After Merle ripped off the old spur shed by catching it on a fence, the new spur underneath looked blackish and porous, possibly weak because it was prematurely exposed.
It seemed to be strengthening, but a couple days ago, Merle broke a small piece of the new spur during morning hen hassling, and it bled so copiously he had to wear a leg wrap. Now it's fine again.
Long version with photos: When I saw the injury that morning, my thinking was, "Spurs break, roosters bleed, no big deal." I kept doing chores until Merle suddenly left breakfast to huddle in the corner, a puddle of blood forming around his foot.
Seeing that much blood and an uncharacteristically unhappy rooster, I dropped my "no big deal" attitude, yanked a tissue out of my pocket to put pressure on the spur, and rushed him to the house.
He stood on the kitchen counter on a stack of paper towels that turned red. If Merle weren't so tame – and our dogs, snoring 10' away on their beds, weren't so gloriously lazy – this wouldn't have turned out as well. DH was at work, so I was a 1-woman show keeping a rooster calm while reaching into cabinets for cornstarch and paper towels and oats to reward Merle.
I applied pressure, then dabbed cornstarch on the spur until the bleeding slowed. Back in the yard, Merle bled minimally for a couple hours and returned to regularly scheduled rooster business.
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His comb and color stayed strong, but at lunchtime, I knew something was wrong when he left the hens and walked through the snow to meet me. The spur was bleeding about 10 drops a minute! He may have been occasionally tapping his good spur against the bad spur on accident, re-injuring it.
I checked the internet for creative ways to stop spur bleeding and was directed to a good BYC thread where experienced members commented. They echoed the "no big deal" approach, saying the less you do, the better, because exposure to air helps stop the bleeding. Just clean and spritz with Vetericyn, except in exceptional situations.
Ten drops/minute, hours post-injury, felt exceptional, so it was back to the kitchen counter, where I rinsed, spritzed, and padded the spur with a folded square of paper towel before wrapping it in a length of self-adhesive wrap.
To my relief, blood didn't seep through, and clever Merle left the bandage alone, so he was able to wear it overnight. I wouldn't normally leave it on that long, but weather has been almost solidly sub-freezing for 10 days. He needs his blood to stay warm. I didn't want to risk him bleeding all night.
Clever, handsome Merle in his wrap:
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The dressing was removed yesterday back in the kitchen, softened with warm water first so it didn't re-open the wound. Thankfully, no more blood.
We'll see if this happens again. Merle is all about foot problems.
Here's the new spur, re-exposed (and hen Hazel's bonny spur in the background. I've never seen her spurs shed, btw, but they don't grow much, either).
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Living like a hermit no matter what I may think about my species isn't an option living city life with family close by; so my family tells me anyway. I was considered pretty much a lost cause ( gone feral ) when I lived in Catalonia and some of my family at least are glad to have me back so to speak.
