Rueben the Rooster

We've had Rueben the rooster for almost two years now.  He was an SPCA seizure and I adopted him from them when I was in picking up some budgies for Greyhaven.  He had been tied BY HIS FOOT (!!!!!) and seized in a cruelty investigation.  They treated his foot and I adopted him when his foot was well again.
 

Well, Rueben now has a thing called Bumblefoot.  It's a relatively common occurence in chickens/roosters caused by staphylococcus bacteria.  If the bird gets an open sore in the foot, the bacteria can enter and cause the infection which can include redness and swelling with pus and can be very painful for the animal.  Rueben has been hiding up at the far end of the pen for a couple of days.  He was fighting with Roscoe, one of the other roosters last week, and was knocked down in the pecking order.  I suspect it was because his foot was sore.



Rueben the rooster

I have now isolated Rueben in a large cage in the barn away from the other chickens.  I have treated his foot with some (believe it or not) Preparation H to reduce the swelling.  Tomorrow I will head to Langley to get some antibiotics and proper treatment cream for him.  I have done some research on this condition which, in 20+ years of poultry keeping I've never seen, although I HAVE heard of it in parrots. Poor Rueben.  Hopefully he will be back in action soon.  When we put his food and water in his cage tonight, he seemed very thirsty.  Good thing we noticed him up at the far end (it's over 100 feet long and the weeds are very long right now).  So, he has nice clean water and fresh food now, and a safe, clean place to sleep tonight.  It's always a bit stressful treating the outside animals because we don't see them all the time like the inside animals.  Rueben is used to being handled and fussed over, however, and he's a very good patient, thank goodness.  When I picked him up at the SPCA, the girls there had grown very attached to him.


I have to be very careful in treating Bumblefoot.  The staph or other bacteria that cause the abscess can infect humans.  Best to wear gloves in case of any open sores or nicks on your hands.  It also can be transmitted to the inside birds.
 
Hopefully Rueben will be back to his old self in no time. I'll keep you updated!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to all of you in blog land!  Can't believe it's 2011 already!  Time is flying by so quickly.  I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season.

I am doing really well.  I'm feeling good and almost back to my pre-breast-cancer self.  Of course, cancer will always be a part of my life, but it really has taken a long time to get back to feeling "normal" since diagnosis, mastectomy, chemo, tamoxifen, prophylactic mastectomy, expander and implant procedures and surgeries.  What a roller-coaster ride it has been.  Today I am healthy.  Today I am feeling good.

I have asked my sister to update my website and will be incorporating my blog into that.  My website is TERRIBLY outdated, and so, it is time.  I will let you all know when the changes are made.  Not sure if my blog will stay here or if I will be moving it, but I will post at that time.  I see a LOT of cutting and pasting in my future!

I'm sitting at the computer tonight and am home all alone.  DH, ds and dd have gone to see a movie.  It's just me, the dog, the cat (sitting on my lap and trying to use the keyboard!!) and the birds.  The birds are telling me it's supper time, so I'd best be feeding them pretty quickly.  Birds make no bones about letting you know when they want their meals!  Tonight is no exception!

My Congo African Grey parrot, Abby,
enjoying her breakfast!

I would like to share with you a fabulous website I was directed to today.  The site is http://www.parrotnation.com/ . What a wonderful lady.  Her site is so full of information on parrots and the best part is her "recipe posts" area.  Great to have so much information on feeding parrots well.  One never stops learning about these wonderful creatures we have chosen to spend our lives with.  Society has tamed these creatures, so it is our responsibility to try to care for them the very best way we can.  Thanks to Patricia for helping to educate us all!  That reminds me - I have a great photo of Abby, my CAG (Congo African Grey) taken a couple of years ago while enjoying her breakfast (left).  Thought it was a great photo!!!

Foster Bird "Dudley"

Below is a photo of the current foster bird I have.  He will be looking for a new home soon through the Greyhaven Program (http://www.greyhaven.bc.ca/).  His name is Dudley and he is a very cheeky, sweet boy who talks and whistles and steps up (he's a bit nippy still, but we're working on that!) and just LOVES to look at himself in his mirror.  Can you say NARCISSIST?  LOL! UPDATE: Dudley has been adopted and has a wonderful new home with cockatiel brothers and sisters!

"Talk" soon!