Can a hen take a rooster?

[Longhaven Hen]

Not sure this is the right place to post this, but when I let my chickens out today, my rooster had blood all over the back of his head (it looks like it's coming from someplace on his comb), and my dominant hen had blood splatter all over her with no apparent sign of injury. The rooster's injury doesn't appear to be too serious, and I know that wattles and combs bleed a lot, but can a hen win a fight with a rooster? They were in the coop longer than most days, because we had church this morning, and they may have gotten bored, but this has never happened before. (FYI...we only have one rooster and five hens in a 10 x 12 coop, so overcrowding shouldn't be an issue. ) The only other possibility that I can think of is that perhaps "Big Mama" was on the nest and "Garfunkel" peeked in and cut the back of his comb when he got scolded and pulled his head out. (Our nest "box" is a small, metal Quonset hut, but the entrance is kind of jagged from being cut out with a torch.) None of the other chickens have any sign of blood or injury, and everyone seems to be getting along just fine now. I'm completely mystified...

 

[speckledhen]

I have a problem with my poor Delaware rooster's girls picking at his comb and wattles. One girl is just really bad about it. He has been covered with blood on more than one occasion and slung some on them, too. No fights, just ladies who seemed bored at the time. The last time, they actually separated the base of the comb from the back of his head! That was really bloody. Could be yours was injured and just got blood on one of the hens he was mating.

 

[Longhaven Hen]

Quote:
Thanks, Speckledhen. That is how it appears from a distance. Going out in a bit to do a more thorough inspection of the the roo (and the coop) and doctor him up a bit.

 

[rufus]

Chicken domestic relations are terrible. They do horrible things to each other, just like the people in my neighbor hood. Some hens are terrible. That is just the way it is.

Rufus

 

[JestersEye]

Just this week, I noticed a small amount of scabbing and bleeding on the points of our alpha Orpington roo's comb... I'm still not sure what's been going on, but I was wondering if the other chickens could be pecking at it for some reason. To be honest, I can't believe they'd even consider that OR that he'd let them get away with it! (He's an impressively large, powerful rooster!)

The smaller Andalusian roo's comb, which has always felt much softer, is completely unscathed, btw. I washed the injured area with soap and water, and then sprayed it with Blue Cote. Today, I also rubbed his comb with Bag Balm, just in case the tips were getting a touch of frostbite or something. I really don't think the coop has gotten anywhere near cold enough to worry about frostbite, least of all on an Orpington (when the Andalusians seem fine); but I figured the extra precaution couldn't hurt.

Maybe chickens go all wonky this time of year, or it could be that roosters have a tendency to stick they combs where they don't belong! I also have a broody hen at the moment, so maybe she was tempted to give the big guy a wallop or two.

 

[Longhaven Hen]

We have been battling frostbite with our roo, so maybe the damaged tissue was just too much to resist as a snack or too fragile to withstand typical jostling for roost position. Our flock dynamics are typically very pleasant, so I don't really think there was a fight, especially since the blood-splattered hen shows no signs of injury. I checked our Quonset hut nest for blood on the entrance, and there is none, so either he bumped his frostbitten comb on something else, or someone decided to take a nibble.