My rooster's been scalped! Comb barely still attached

[Freia]

I just came home from two weeks vacation, and I just looked at my rooster and I'm just crying out loud. My poor baby-boy!

His comb has been all but torn off from the back towards the front and is barely attached. It's just flopping into his face. I had several dear, reliable friends watching my animals while I was gone, and I received regular e-mail updates from them saying the flock was happy and well. Nobody mentioned a scalped rooster. I'm surprised he's still alive. He must have bled horribly. I have no idea whether it's been like this for 2 weeks or whether it just happened.

What do I do? Can it be reattached? Do I take him to the vet and ask them to cut off the rest of his comb so it's not flopping around like that for the rest of his life?

I've always been able to attach pictures to my posts. Today I can't. There's no option to do it on here at all. I'll try to figure out why and provide pictures.

 

[Freia]

 

[ILikeBirds]

I would take him to the vet to see what they can do with him, that is if the cost doesn't bother you. He can certainly live being scalped, but he would definitely need to see the vet. If it was me, I would probably send him to the freezer camp!

But good luck, hope everything goes well!

 

[Freia]

Freezer-camp? Kill him, for a torn comb? A beautiful Blu Langshan who breeds strong, healthy chicks and protects his flock and never attacks my kids? No, he's not getting killed unless it's a last resort. If I get it to heal without infection, seems like he could live without his comb. He's going to the vet this afternoon. In the meantime, trying to find out from my friends how old the injury is. How could they not have noticed?

 

[ILikeBirds]

I didn't see the pics before I posted, hopefully it only happened recently

 

[jannakaye]

Poor roo! I do not think his comb will "make it" but he'll still be beautiful without it! The vet will probably want to take it off but if you ask, they might could stitch it back on and it heal perfectly fine. Good luck!

 

[Freia]

He's going to the vet at 3:00. I'll let you know what they decide to do in case that can help someone else with the same problem. I notice the tips of the comb have turned black, so I assume gangrene is setting in, so I assume the comb will be coming off.

so far, we've been able to to determine that the injury is less than 2 days old. That's good. Fresher is better for healing.

 

[JennieRD]

He should be fine as long as it is not infected. A lot of people cut the combs on their Rosters to prevent frostbite in the winter and ( I do not agree with the sport of cock fighting) many cock fighters remove them to prevent severe damage to their rosters during matches. He will be ok, as long as it is not infected. You will just be able to pick him out of a crowd more easily. It will add a little character to him. Just give him time to heal....I get upset too, when mine are hurt....The comb will probably have to be removed, or if you leave it, will look a little odd. If you don't make it to the vet. Keep it heavily covered with an antibiotic save and keep him away from your hens so they do not peck him on the head when he's got his head down eating. It will take time for the skin to grow back, you may have to keep him separated from the flock for a while.........Good luck! It does not look that bad from the picture,

 

[Freia]

Update for others facing the same problem.

Here are the options the vet gave us:

She gave me 3 options:

-1- Do nothing. the wound is down to his scull, but does not appear to be infected under the scab (but it could be infected and festering under there). There would be about a 50% chance that it would just heal up OK on its own. there would be a very large chance that if it healed, it will get caught on something later and tear off all the way. The other 50% chance would be that gangrene sets in and it kills him within about a week. The tips of his comb are pretty black, and we think the injury happened 3-4 days ago.

I didn't like option 1

-2- There is enough live tissue around the edges of the scab and near the base of the comb that she should be able to trim down to healthy tissue and reattach the comb. His comb was very black at the tips from lack of blood. She said that sometimes, when blood supply is restored, the black tissue can regenerate and survive. About 50% chance of success. If the blood supply doesn't get rid of the black, it's because gangrene has already set in, and it would get worse. If it got worse, he'd have to come in for a second surgery, see #3 below.

-3- Amputation. Cut off all the portion of the comb that has been severed from his head, basically leaving him a peacomb near the front. This removes all tissue that is at risk of gangrene. She will have to clean up the area that's scabbed over above his scull. With this option, we will need to manage the open wound - both over his skull and where the comb gets trimmed off.

I went with option 3, since it has the least chance of complications later on. It does the dirty deed and gets it over with. Congratulations, we now have a $200 rooster. But he's a very good $200 rooster. I want him to live. I don't think an animal is only worth their replacement cost. Especially since I suspect that this happened while he was trying to rescue his ladies from a hawk. This is why we have him.

 

[welasharon]

Join the club...I have a 412 dollar hen....and she almost never lays.
I would have chosen that option as well.