Pheasant the chicken

[lady_equine]

Pheasant is doing pretty well today. I actually saw her drink some water this morning, which is a huge relief. She is quite chipper and energetic, which just amazes me. Last night I decided that I'd moved from merely wishful for Pheasant's recovery to hopeful. I think she has a good chance

Comments

re

[circle23]

great shots LOL i think missed a post of how this wound came to be ? what happened?

Re: re

[lady_equine]

Ah, that would be explained here.

[darkmane]

That is most disturbing because I now *see* the relationship between chicken that I eat and a living chicken.

Not going to change my eating habits, but a more direct correllation to between living chickens and chicken breasts than I have had so far.

[lady_equine]

I sympathize with the feeling.

It is a bit squicky to directly see, on the chicken, exposed, my favorite part of the chicken to eat.

I really don't blame the barn cats for finding chickens so tasty. I agree. Nevertheless, we are trying our best to keep those pesky hunters *out* of our henhouse.

[kushali]

My thoughts exactly.

I think this is the second or third time an injured chicken has helped me make that connection.

I hope it doesn't happen again.

[rocket_jockey]

Nice shot! Muscle, subcutaneous fat, and part of the wishbone, all visible. Totally cool. (I used to work for a vet, and am fascinated by this sort of thing...)

Left like that, it's going to take a very long time for that large a wound to completely grow together. Have you talked to the vet about debriding the edges of the skin tear and sewing him together? Even if there's some missing, skin is pretty stretchy suff.

[singingnettle]

Yes, waiting for that amount of skin to grow back without infection occurring...that's a challenge. Poor chicken! Good luck to her. Is she on antibiotics? (Does acidophilus work for chickens?)

[lady_equine]

A couple of factors make it tough to sew it back together.

The first, is that all the skin was torn away (and likely consumed by the cats). And, the patch of skin missing is about 3" x 5", pretty tough amount to make up.

The second, is that while we are fond of the hen, she is only a chicken. $150 we can justify. Over $500 at minimum is...rather too much.

[rocket_jockey]

I can understand the financial limits: I didn't want to assume anything about how important your chicken is to you (having known people with pet chickens).

A patch that size is hard to close together - it can be done, but it's not simple and can have problems if the skin is drawn too tightly.

Assuming she heals up, she's going to have a very large featherless patch to brag about to the other hens around the water can ("No ^&$%, there I was, cats to the left of me, cats to the right of me ....")

[uncledark]

You know, if she survives, I can see it now:

Late night booze session in the chicken coop...
"I got that scratch in the hen fight last week!"
"Oh yeah? I got this scar from the Great Weasel Incursion of '06!"
"Hah, that's nothing! Look at this!"

*gasps of awe and horror*

[goldfish42]

You are a better keeper than I, I guess. I would have offered a quick merciful death and some tears, and a respectful end to her remains.

[lady_equine]

ocicat and I did look that possibility in the face. If she were any other hen in the flock, the vet would have helped her to her ending. But she is the one chicken that any child can pick up (on their own) and interact with. That makes her more valuable than the others.

Ocicat has regretted the decision a little bit, as tending her has come to dictate our lives and schedules. I sympathize and appreciate his help. BTW, how are you at immobilizing hens while they are being doctored?