Emile!

Here’s a recent shot of Emile, the dandy little birchen Cochin roo! Emile has become my bud since I nursed him back to health from his bout with sour crop. All of the handling has made him less shy & he's quite happy to eat grain out of my hand now. He crows at sunrise, just like roosters should & sometimes at other random times of the day when he gets confused.

I was clueless as far as what was wrong with him when he first got sick. I just noticed that one morning, he didn't crow, or do much of anything and just sort of stood around with a droopy head. I wondered at first about coccidiosis, which is something all chickens get at some point, or some other infectious agent, which would have probably meant that the whole flock would get sick. I finally hit on the idea that he might have sour crop, and sure enough, when I tipped him over, nasty stuff ran out of his beak just like I was pouring cream out of a pitcher.  With the help of a neighbor, who is a vet, I’ve managed to get this little guy back to good health!