Cockerel Fight

[Doolaladida]

Hi, I gave my neighbour a cockerel hatched by one of my hens at the end of summer 2020, we named him The Bandit. He came back yesterday and attacked my bantam pekin cockerel Napoleon, his own father no less! There was a lot of blood so I gently cleaned the comb with warm salty water, and put Napoleon in a quiet dark place for an hour then back in the coop at sunset. He seems OK today, swollen but eating and drinking well. However his head feathers are still covered in blood. Question 1: Should I give him a water bath to wash the blood off or leave him be? Question 2: What should I do about The Bandit - how can I discourage him from coming back and taking chunks out of his gentle sweet dad?

 

[DobieLover]

Hi, I gave my neighbour a cockerel hatched by one of my hens at the end of summer 2020, we named him The Bandit. He came back yesterday and attacked my bantam pekin cockerel Napoleon, his own father no less! There was a lot of blood so I gently cleaned the comb with warm salty water, and put Napoleon in a quiet dark place for an hour then back in the coop at sunset. He seems OK today, swollen but eating and drinking well. However his head feathers are still covered in blood. Question 1: Should I give him a water bath to wash the blood off or leave him be? Question 2: What should I do about The Bandit - how can I discourage him from coming back and taking chunks out of his gentle sweet dad?

Welcome to BYC.
I would use a damp paper towel to wipe the blood off of Napoleons feathers. Do you have any antibiotic spray like Vetericyn you could spray on his wounds? Otherwise smear a bit of triple antibiotic ointment or equivalent on in injuries and leave him with his flock.
You will need to talk to your neighbor about keeping Bandit away from your property. How many chickens do they have?
It is VERY common for a son to challenge his father for the flock. How long ago did your neighbor take Bandit? How far away are they?

 

[Hei 20]

Hi, I gave my neighbour a cockerel hatched by one of my hens at the end of summer 2020, we named him The Bandit. He came back yesterday and attacked my bantam pekin cockerel Napoleon, his own father no less! There was a lot of blood so I gently cleaned the comb with warm salty water, and put Napoleon in a quiet dark place for an hour then back in the coop at sunset. He seems OK today, swollen but eating and drinking well. However his head feathers are still covered in blood. Question 1: Should I give him a water bath to wash the blood off or leave him be? Question 2: What should I do about The Bandit - how can I discourage him from coming back and taking chunks out of his gentle sweet dad?

 

[Doolaladida]

Welcome to BYC.
I would use a damp paper towel to wipe the blood off of Napoleons feathers. Do you have any antibiotic spray like Vetericyn you could spray on his wounds? Otherwise smear a bit of triple antibiotic ointment or equivalent on in injuries and leave him with his flock.
You will need to talk to your neighbor about keeping Bandit away from your property. How many chickens do they have?
It is VERY common for a son to challenge his father for the flock. How long ago did your neighbor take Bandit? How far away are they?

Thanks for the advice on care, I will do as you suggest. The neighbours are just next door and I realise now, I should have rehomed The Bandit much further away. My neighbours are lovely but they are very new to chickens and I can see already they are finding it a bit if a chore along with the 2 toddlers and new puppy. Ideally I’d like them to move their chickens to the other side of their large garden and build them a secure run... it’s a huge ask, and only worth making if it will sort the problem. Will it? Otherwise, maybe I should suggest that I find The Bandit a new home

 

[Matejka]

Stew bandit, or rehome far away AND know nothing when neighbors asks about bandit. Haven't seen him, maybe hawk snatched him

 

[DobieLover]

maybe I should suggest that I find The Bandit a new home

Yes, and tell them why.
Once they took possession of him they are responsible for keeping him on their property. If they are unable or unwilling, you have a right to keep him off yours. However, this becomes a sticky wicket if YOUR birds go on THEIR property!

 

[Misfits Farm 92]

Stew bandit, or rehome far away AND know nothing when neighbors asks about bandit. Haven't seen him, maybe hawk snatched him

That's literally STEALING the neighbor's rooster! My free-range cockerel flew the fence and fought my neighbors free-range rooster without me knowing once. If my neighbor where to stew him or steal him and give him away somewhere I would be FURIOUS. If the cockerel escaped multiple times then it would time to take action but we don't even know if the owner knew that their chicken was fighting with OPs chicken. Sorry if I sound aggressive but you shouldn't suggest something like that right off the bat without knowing more.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Yes, and tell them why.
Once they took possession of him they are responsible for keeping him on their property. If they are unable or unwilling, you have a right to keep him off yours. However, this becomes a sticky wicket if YOUR birds go on THEIR property!

Agreed, that cockerel isn’t your responsibility OP, it’s theirs. Are they aware that they’re doing a bad job of keeping their birds off your property?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi, I gave my neighbour a cockerel hatched by one of my hens at the end of summer 2020, we named him The Bandit. He came back yesterday and attacked my bantam pekin cockerel Napoleon, his own father no less! There was a lot of blood so I gently cleaned the comb with warm salty water, and put Napoleon in a quiet dark place for an hour then back in the coop at sunset. He seems OK today, swollen but eating and drinking well. However his head feathers are still covered in blood. Question 1: Should I give him a water bath to wash the blood off or leave him be? Question 2: What should I do about The Bandit - how can I discourage him from coming back and taking chunks out of his gentle sweet dad?

Thanks for the advice on care, I will do as you suggest. The neighbours are just next door and I realise now, I should have rehomed The Bandit much further away. My neighbours are lovely but they are very new to chickens and I can see already they are finding it a bit if a chore along with the 2 toddlers and new puppy. Ideally I’d like them to move their chickens to the other side of their large garden and build them a secure run... it’s a huge ask, and only worth making if it will sort the problem. Will it? Otherwise, maybe I should suggest that I find The Bandit a new home

How about a fence between your properties?
Is Napoleon and his hens running loose - nothing is stopping them from venturing into The Bandits territory correct?

 

[Corbdee]

Yes, and tell them why.
Once they took possession of him they are responsible for keeping him on their property. If they are unable or unwilling, you have a right to keep him off yours. However, this becomes a sticky wicket if YOUR birds go on THEIR property!

That's literally STEALING the neighbor's rooster! My free-range cockerel flew the fence and fought my neighbors free-range rooster without me knowing once. If my neighbor where to stew him or steal him and give him away somewhere I would be FURIOUS. If the cockerel escaped multiple times then it would time to take action but we don't even know if the owner knew that their chicken was fighting with OPs chicken. Sorry if I sound aggressive but you shouldn't suggest something like that right off the bat without knowing more.

I agree. Years back (before I was on BYC or had an interest in poultry) our neighbor kept ducks and would always go into our property and dig stuff up. He started out with three ducks, and we believe someone on our street shot one of them because they were fed up with them. Instead of that approach for us, we calmly talked to him about his ducks and he told us he didn’t want to lose a great neighbor and friend over a pet, and rehomed them. I agree with the fact that it’s a sticky widget with that as well because I always think that if we didn’t calmly tell them about it and jumped to conclusions, it wouldn’t seem right that I keep ducks now