Viggo Can't Help Being a Boy

Poor Viggo. He's just being a boy, and after all, that's what he is. But boy + chicken = ROOSTER, and when that is accompanied by an attitude that won't quit, well, something has to change. He is a handsome thing-and he certainly knows it. We have a whole slew of chickens, his little band of girls, and I'm not sure if he thinks he is protecting the ladies or if he is just being a butt head (much more likely) but he has started attacking us lately-and it hurts! Viggo hurls himself up and slams his 6+ pounds against your thigh or whever he can contact-and then he rakes his evil spurs against you. The spurs are actually bony appendages on the legs of roosters. They are very sharp, and yes, they sure can do some damage. I had a bruise that lasted for a week after his last unexpected attack. I'm getting pretty good about watching for him now, and (don't tell the animal cops!) he has received a few well placed kicks in the hind end when he was caught flying towards me. I even bring Verbal with me when I go to feed the chickens-she loves to chase them and her favorite sport is tumbling them head over heels (do chickens have heels?) as they squak and flutter. She has never attacked or hurt one-she just loves the chase and I'm sure she likes the noise they make. But Viggo doesn't back down, from me or from Verbal, and I'm afraid he is going to hurt her or maybe some unsuspecting visitor to my little farm one day.

So today our hospital sounds like a barnyard at 4 am-a very perturbed rooster is crowing at the top of his lungs-and won't shut up! Clients this morning have a very puzzled look on their faces, and everyone has smiled when we told them yes, we treat roosters, too, not just cats and dogs at this hospital. Noodles and Twitchy, our hospital cats, are just fascinated with this giant bird. They know they are supposed to be the predators, but Viggo stands taller than them and that voice-wow. Twitchy, especially, is going to need some time to get used to this.

The plan for Viggo was simple. We were going to place a mask over his beak and administer a gas anesthetic and oxygen mixture. Birds usually fall asleep very quickly with little struggle due to their very rapid metabolism. They generally have large tracheas, so we should be able to place an endotracheal tube for better anesthetic safety. We'll monitor him as we do any patient, and maintaining body heat is particularly important. Then I'll basically amputate those spurs or extra "toes." I had asked an avian specialist about this procedure and he said there shouldn't be much bleeding, but I could place some light wraps for a day or so if there was. He told me meloxicam would be fine for post-op pain relief and gave me some doses appropriate for a mature rooster. I'm not looking forward to chasing down that darned bird every day to stuff meds down his throat, but I will if I have to. Oh joy.

Here is Viggo getting his pain meds. He was a good boy for his medications, so maybe it won't be such a chore after all.

Well, the procedure itself was pretty quick, but I don't know what the specialist was talking about-those spurs bled like a son of a gun! I had to place some pretty tight little wraps over the surgery sites to get the blood to stop. Viggo started to pick at the wraps when he woke up and was kind of dancing a bit-I felt like the pain medication wasn't enough for him, so gave him an extra dose. That seemed to do the trick-he stopped dancing in his kennel and left the wraps alone after that. Pain control is important for all of us, even roosters.

So, we'll see how this goes. Taking away his weapons should at least make us safer around the barn yard, but maybe it will humble that cock-o'-the-walk, too. I can hope!

One other funny thing happened as a result of Viggo being in the hospital today. A sweet patient named Roarie, here for her own surgery and recovering in the cage right next to Viggo, was barking and howling and basically calling back and forth to him all day. It really sounded like she was trying to crow just like he was! Her owners were great about it, laughing when they heard her as they came to pick her up. I sure hope they are still laughing when she starts crowing at the 4 am wake-up call!

Peace,
DrReneigh

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

I'm not the only one who is glad to see the thaw occurring in the yard and on the streets today. With all the recent snow, my flock of 26 chickens (and "Viggo", the token rooster) haven't ventured out of their coop for two weeks. No way were they going to walk in that cold white stuff. They have all been squeezed onto the perches that they usually use only at night, huddled together trying to keep warm. They have tons of food-and it keeps disappearing, so I know someone is coming down to munch during the day. And some brave or confused girls are still laying eggs-I'm getting 3 or 4 a day despite the short day length. Chickens thrive on long days, just like me. On big egg production farms, hens are kept under lights to artificially stimulate the pituitary gland through the eye. This causes the secretion of a hormone to stimulate the ovary to produce eggs. 15 to 16 hours is an ideal "day" length for laying hens, although in some big production barns, lights are kept on even longer (and is why chickens there tend to "burn out" very quickly.) No way are we getting that kind of day length right now, but we just passed winter solstice so things are looking up. T-shirt weather is just around the corner.

Chickens are biologically a lot like mammals, but it is fun to note the little differences. They don't have teeth, of course, so use a muscular gland called the ventriculus (gizzard) to grind their food. They don't have sweat glands, and on hot days I often see them panting like dogs to dissipate excess body heat. Their normal body temperatures run extremely high, 105 to 107 degrees. Normal resting heart rates can range from 280 to 340 beats per minute.

The process of "making an egg" is pretty cool. After a rooster mates with a hen, sperm can remain viable in the oviduct for up to 20 days, fertilizing eggs the entire time. Roosters aren't "required" for hens to lay eggs, only to fertilize them. I have had chickens (and plenty of those marvelous, fresh eggs) for 10 years and this is the first year I have ever had a rooster. Viggo is a handsome son of a gun-and he sure knows it! Only the left ovaries are functional in chickens, and they consist of about 2,000 small ova in the immature bird. As they mature, follicles form-these will be the yolks. There are usually 4 - 6 yolks forming at a time, the largest one will be the next egg. The follicle is covered by a highly vascularized membrane except for one area, the stigma. At ovulation, the follicular membrane ruptures at the stigma, but if it ruptures anywhere else (any place where there is a lot of vessels) we will see that tiny spot of blood in the egg. The blood spot doesn't have anything to do with being fertilized or not.

After ovulation, the yolk moves through the first part of the oviduct, the infundibulum, just like the start of an assembly line. If fertilization is to take place, this is where it happens, as well as the production of the first layer of albumen. It takes about 15 minutes for the yolk to pass through the infundibulum. It next passes through the longest part of the oviduct, the magnum, where most of the albumen is formed and deposited around the yolk. The egg is in the magnum for 2 to 3 hours. The egg now goes to the isthmus where the inner and outer shell membranes are formed, taking about 1 1/2 hours. Then the egg enters the shell gland or uterus. Here the egg will take up salts and water in a process called "plumping" and the hard shell is added. This, along with the final calcification of the shell, takes about 18 to 21 hours. Mature female chickens have specialized bone called medullary bone which forms 10 days prior to the formation of their first eggs. This is where they will store the needed calcium for egg production-roosters and immature females do not have this kind of bone. Finally, the egg passes into the vagina, where the cuticle layer is added over the shell and the egg turns 180 degrees (so that the large end is delivered first.) Wow. A pretty amazing process, huh?

Another thing I found interesting is that the natural skin pigmentation of a hen (called xanthophyll) is gradually lost during the laying season as that pigment is diverted to the yolks, giving them their characteristic yellow color. Corn is the major component of laying birds' diets and is a principal source of the pigment. Hens that are thoroughly bleached out are usually the highest producers. Her pigment will return as she stops production-one of the ways you can determine which hens have stopped laying if you will be culling or removing older birds from your flock. I'm not very practical at all-my old girls don't have to worry about "earning their keep." They will have a home for life, eggs or not.

I don't get the opportunity to do much chicken veterinary care on birds other than my own-most people probably don't want to spend the money. Chickens are a lot like other birds and "exotic" pets-they tend to hide their illnesses from us, sometimes until it is too late to much about it. They think if they show they are vulnerable, they will get eaten by a predator. Care must be taken to really know your individual bird's habits, if not personalities, so you can recognize when things change. Even subtle changes could be the indicator of an illness. Good nutrition and proper housing go a long way to keeping your flock healthy. Mine enjoy the popcorn from when I go to the movies and LOVE left over spaghetti noodles-maybe they think they are really long worms!

Like I said, Viggo and his ladies certainly will be celebrating the thaw, finally getting out and stretching their wings a bit. I sure enjoy my little farm.

Peace,
DrReneigh