31wk Rooster’s comb is covered in blood

[lmadeline146]

I just got home to see that one of our roosters, Cujo, (31 weeks) had a bloodied comb. At first, we suspected he had gotten in a fight with our other, less dominant rooster Eggo, who is the same age. But after checking Eggo and our other hens, we saw no injuries on the others. I’m not sure if he fought off a predator or what, but his comb looks terrible and if anyone could give me a solution to fixing it and making sure he doesn’t get an infection, please help! I think there’s small wounds on both sides of his comb. His tail is also a little bit mangled, but other than that he looks fine. Please help.

 

[Tookie]

That's not a bad injury. He will be ok! I would let it heal on its own.

 

[CrspyChkn]

I agree that it does not look bad, I went through that twice with a black orpington rooster. Mine was fighting another rooster though and got beat up. He looked worse than that and pulled through just fine. Good luck with him, he is very pretty.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

If it feels hot, begins to discharge, or smell bad, then you can treat it. I use Neosporin or another antibiotic topical ointment, the kind without the pain relief.

If you keep him in with your other chickens, watch that they don't peck at his injuries. This doesn't look so severe that they would, but chickens can be curious little buggers! If they do, you may want to separate him in a "see but don't touch" situation (like a wire dog crate or partition, placed in their coop). Or spray the wound (covering his eyes of course) with a little blu kote to discourage them from nibbling on his head.

 

[microchick]

I agree. I've had my roosters actually tear their big floppy combs. All I do is clean it up with a bit of betadine and smear some bacitracin antibiotic ointment on it.

You might want to just keep an eye on it to make sure none of the other birds peck at the dried blood as they often do. I keep some Wound Kote on hand and dab it on with a cotton swab or q-tip to keep them from doing that.

You will be surprised how fast it will heal.

 

[lmadeline146]

That's not a bad injury. He will be ok! I would let it heal on his own.

Thank you so much, I was worried because I didn’t want it to get infected and have a problem on my hands.