This morning I gave Rusty another bath. I cleaned her the best I could but didn’t worry that she wasn’t completely clean. I wanted to get the honey off so that she can continue to clean herself in a dust bath but I didn’t want to mess about with her too long as I didn’t want to stress her.
Rusty before her bath
After her bath Rusty had some chopped grape
Her face and comb are red which is a good sign
I towel dried her as much as I could but I am leaving her in the cat box until lunch time to dry and to keep her on light food of just a little corn and chopped grape. At lunch time I will return her to the run.
The good news is that the prolapse is now staying in and that her face and comb are a good red colour. The thing that worries me is that there is no reason for a young bird to have a prolapse so I worry that there may something going on inside her to have caused this. If she was an old bird I could understand it but I can’t work out why she would have a prolapse.
We can only wait and see if she fully recovers and keep hoping that she will. Provided there are no set backs I hope to leave her in the run from this afternoon without bathing her again. She should be able to clean herself and would probably be happier doing so than having me do it for her.
This afternoon
I put Rusty back in the run and she had a quick scratch and peck and then once again went straight to a dust bath. She already had a mucky bottom and I hoped a dust bath, without honey, might help to clean her. The dust just stuck to the poop instead of the honey and she ended up looking exactly the same as before I had bathed her.
Rusty and Apricot peck together
Rusty looks good apart from a mucky bottom once more
Rusty goes straight to a dust bath
Soon after this Rusty went and sat in the nest box.
Rusty is settled in the nest box
Rusty is due to go broody and on this occasion I think that would be the best thing for her and I will leave her to it. It would give her break from egg laying and time to rest and heal and it will also mean she eats less and poops less.
She had been in the nest box for a few hours and I was just wondering if I should lift her out for a break when she came out on her own. She had a bit of spinach and a good long drink of water. She then went and perched in the corner of the run.
Rusty perched in the corner of the run
Her bottom looks as dirty now as before her bath
I took the opportunity to get another photo of her bottom. It looks the same as yesterday but earlier on it was really poopy and now it is really dusty so it is a sort of improvement.
Provided there are no set backs I am just going to leave Rusty to it now. I am hopeful that the longer the prolapse stays in the better the chance of getting her fully back to normal.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Glad to hear she is much better.
As long as the prolapse is staying in I think there is hope for a full recovery. I get scared to get my hopes up but I think she is making progress. I am pleased that she is wanting to dust bath and to eat treats, drink water and that her comb is staying red. I am keeping everything crossed.
It’s all looking really positive. 🙂
Thank you.
She looks so good. I’m saying prayers for you and for her that she heals up just right.
Thank you so much.
Good news. The honey really does seem to be doing the trick! I have a relative that believes there is a natural substance to cure every ailment.
I too believe there are a lot of healing properties in natural substances and I have heard a lot of good things about honey but I didn’t know that it was a natural antibiotic.