Cockerel with blood on his comb

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MontanaDolphin

MontanaDolphin

Songster
6 Years
Feb 16, 2013
1,051
84
168
Columbia, Virginia
Zeus...my favorite cockerel and the one I'm keeping...has blood and an injury on his comb. My chicks are 14 weeks old, and the cockerels (there are four of them...all but Zeus were supposed to be pullets) are getting rougher with each other and the girls. Zeus tried mounting one of the younger pullets (10 weeks old) the other day, which I've never seen him do before...he grabbed her neck feathers and tried getting on top of her. Anyway, do you think this injury was inflicted by another chick? I also saw a little blood near his beak opening.





Also, I noticed there are these little black spots on his comb and wattles. Like the size of poppy seeds. Wasn't sure if that is related or not.

What should I do for his comb? Should I clean it with something like peroxide or just put some triple antibiotic ointment on it? Thank you!
 
Your cockerels have probably been fighting... Clean his comb up (I think peroxide will work) and if you can separate the cockerels or sell some of them.

Good Luck!
 
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I'm not gonna sell 'em, I'm gonna EAT 'em! I'm waiting till they turn 18 weeks old cuz that's when I heard was the best time for cockerels. Do I need to separate them in the meantime? I have nowhere really to put the other three cockerels.
 
Those little black spots are probably little peck injuries or bug bites. It sounds as though it is time to remove all of the boys and put them in a bachelor pen to give the girls a break. One guy will get to be the dominant fellow, but they should get along away from the girls. If you have already chosen one cockerel to keep, you might leave him with the girls, but I would probably take him out until you decide who to keep. The comb will clear up without cleaning in a couple of weeks, but you could wipe it off with soap and water on a wash cloth. Oh I read that you are keeping Zeus, so I would leave him with the girls so he doesn't get injured again.
 
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Eggcessive said:
Those little black spots are probably little peck injuries or bug bites. It sounds as though it is time to remove all of the boys and put them in a bachelor pen to give the girls a break. One guy will get to be the dominant fellow, but they should get along away from the girls. If you have already chosen one cockerel to keep, you might leave him with the girls, but I would probably take him out until you decide who to keep. The comb will clear up without cleaning in a couple of weeks, but you could wipe it off with soap and water on a wash cloth. Oh I read that you are keeping Zeus, so I would leave him with the girls so he doesn't get injured again.
Click to expand...
Not peck injuries...I know that's not what it is. Bug bites...maybe. But I don't think that's it either. I swear they look like tiny poppy seeds. I'll see if I can get a clearer, better picture of them...close up.

How do you suggest I separate the boys from the rest of the flock? I don't know how to do that. The set-up I have is a coop with a run I made out of a 4 foot high dog kennel with 10 ft. sides, chicken wire, and hardware cloth attached to the coop. They have access to the run from 7 a.m. until dark...when they all go in the coop to roost and I close the run door (and open it up when I get up in the morning). It's the only coop I have. I do have a movable pen I made...but I do not think it's secure enough to keep the boys in overnight. The only other option I have is the "slaughter house" (I named this building that because there are metal splash shields on the walls). It is pretty secure, but not like my run and coop...there's a gap between the roof and the walls. It has two screened windows, and a door that is split in two...you can open the top, bottom, or lock it together and open the whole thing. I'm using that as a storage area for some lumber but I could clean it out. It's got linolium on the floor that's curling up at the edges, and there's evidence of mice in there, although I've had traps set for a while with no mice being caught so I think they are old signs. (This is a new home...we just moved into it in January). I'll post pics and see what y'all think.

Here's the run and coop.






Here's the movable pen I made (needs some touching up...the door fell off LOL):




Here's the pen up against the run:




Here's the "Slaughter House". It's attached to the coop, but no access in between the two. These three pictures were taken before we moved in, and before I fixed up the coop and attached the run:







I just took these today, to give you an idea of what shape it's in. I have NOT cleaned it yet, have had other priorities here at our new home. We plan on ripping up the linolium, but we can't yet cuz we don't have the extra money to replace the flooring.





Here's where the gap is. Can't see it very well in this pic, but the one below it shows the light coming in from the gap.





Some of the ickiness of the floor. Don't know what this spot is...could probably be swept and then mopped.



Mouse evidence:



 

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