What a wild ride the last few days here at the Animal Sanctuary…
Our Roo’s lost their “Cockadoodle Doo’s”.
We spent many hours with lots of hard work waiting to see if our two great roosters…Rhett
, and Chicken Man 
were going to pull through.
Somehow, a strange virus was brought into the little chicken village. Nothing was the same.
One after another chicken and two roosters became very ill and we had a major crisis on our hands in order to save the ones that got the virus even to the point of dying.
We stayed very busy as we worked with each chicken and the two roosters who had totally lost their “Cockadoodle Doos” due to the virus in their throats.
We researched the virus and found out that it was usually fatal especially with the symptoms our two beautiful roosters had.
First, Chicken Man became very ill. He couldn’t breathe and he was constantly in a state of trying to get air into his lungs.
Then, Rhett came down with the same symptoms as they both had blood flying from their throat and nose still struggling to breathe.
What could we do for them? I had read that there could be no cure for the symptoms both of the roosters had. Death was imminent especially for Chicken Man who almost died before our eyes.
One whole day we worked with him. He was given antibiotics, electrolytes, and other medications to no avail. His comb on his head began to turn blue. He was loosing the battle and soon he would die.
I had an idea. I asked the caretaker to go and fetch coconut oil and bring it to me. I had heard that coconut oil was a wonderful remedy for almost anything. I heard that coconut oil killed virus, bacteria, and yeast on contact both in people and animals.
As we were working frantically with Chicken Man, one of the Wyandotte chickens died before our eyes from the same disease. We couldn’t help her so we kept on working with Chicken Man.
We didn’t stop.
I started giving Chicken Man the coconut oil through an eye dropper and also rubbing his now blue comb and his feet with the coconut oil.
Suddenly, he started to respond. He began breathing easier and minute-by-minute, his Caretaker and I saw life coming back where death had been so present.
We continued on giving him more and more coconut oil…then water to hydrate him…then more oil. Again, he responded positively to the remedy. He walked around now and started sneezing and then coughing. Up came a big obstruction that had been in his throat.
Now, he needed lots of rest so we placed him in “sick bay” where there was a heat lamp, nice warm straw and a cover to keep him warm and quiet.
We didn’t know if he would live through the night but we knew he was better and had definitely crossed over the crisis to begin healing.
The next morning, Chicken Man was a “new man”. He was on the mend and was able to walk around with his hens.
The crisis wasn’t over… next it was Rhett…our beautiful, gentleman rooster.
We proceeded with the same remedy all day long. Rhett struggled to breathe. Over and over we gave him coconut oil and hydrated him with water. He was weak and had a low response. He sneezed so hard, he fell back on his feathery bottom. We continued with his care…his symptoms became less severe…his breathing less labored.
By evening, Rhett showed signs of improvement but he had to go to “sick bay” with four other hens that were having trouble breathing. He stayed in the big round pen that had a heat lamp, water, and food. He finally laid down and closed his eyes so he could rest in order to recover or so we hoped.
The next day would be the day we would know if both our Roo’s made it through the crisis.
We woke up and went out to the Hoop House not knowing if they would be alive or would have lost the battle to the strange virus that had passed to so many of our feathered friends.
We went through the doors of the Hoop House. The night before, we had placed Chicken Man in another “sick bay” with a few hens that had breathing problems. We opened the door and looked in and low and behold Chicken Man was almost back to himself. He breathed easily.
He was up and about. He wanted to greet the day with his “cockadoodle doo”. It was almost back but not quite.
The day had warmed from the two previous days so it was a day that Chicken Man could go outside and enjoy the sunshine, grass, and treats that all the chickens received from the porch…chicken scratch.
He was eating, stretching, crowing, and so happy to be alive.
Now, we had to look in on Rhett to see how he had faired through the night. Low and behold, Rhett was 100% better.
This was definitely a miracle for both of our rooster friends.
They weren’t supposed to live with the virus they had.
They weren’t supposed to make it…
But, here they were…both miracles now ready to go back to work protecting their hens like roosters do.
Rhett couldn’t muster his “cockadoodle doo” either…not quite yet.
We knew that Rhett would get his “doo” back because he was definitely on the mend…just like Chicken Man.
We knew we had experienced two miracles.
All through the day, their crowing got stronger, better, louder. The hens all improved and were healing…the coconut oil had worked.
We now knew that we had the “Cockadoodle Doo’s back in our Roo’s”
Just like Anna Belle’s song “Miracles Can Happen”, we had seen two miracles that day with our two special roosters, Chicken Man and Rhett.
We are very grateful.
To be continued…
