Cockerel savaged Hen

[BarryTheBold]

I have a 5 month old cockerel that savaged one of my hens. The underneath of her wings are bare to the muscles. I have her separate in a box where no one can hurt her. She seems ok, she was eating rice and making normal noises (she’s very talkative). I sprayed with chlorohexidine and she’s quiet now. Can a hen recover from something like this? Cockerel is living his last night outside away from the other girls, as I refuse to let anyone else get hurt. Thank you for any and all advice or help.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome, and how sad for her. She is very likely to do well, it will just take time.
Have her on disposable hospital pads or something other than shavings, so nothing can get into her wounds. You can apply Maluka honey (sp?) or Silvadene, or Neosporine to her bare spots daily, and keep the good food coming.
Keep her in away from the flies, if you are in a warm climate!
As you've decided, this cockerel is a disaster, if you are positive that he's the culprit.
All the best,
Mary

 

[Pennys Mama]

I have a 5 month old cockerel that savaged one of my hens. The underneath of her wings are bare to the muscles. I have her separate in a box where no one can hurt her. She seems ok, she was eating rice and making normal noises (she’s very talkative). I sprayed with chlorohexidine and she’s quiet now. Can a hen recover from something like this? Cockerel is living his last night outside away from the other girls, as I refuse to let anyone else get hurt. Thank you for any and all advice or help.

A pullet of mine hung by her wing in our shed with in pinched between 2 pieces of metal overnight. She's fully recovered now. I had to cut the wing open myself just to relieve the swelling, it was leaking fluid from where her feathers attach. Her wing got double the size it is in this photo before it started getting better. I cut all of the feathers off to lighten her load & isolated her in a separate pen in the coop. I kept her wound/wing sprayed with Scarlex spray (I've used it on a pullet attacked by a dog too), just gotta keep them separated to avoid pecking & picking.

So pictures would be great to include so we know what we're dealing with. Boost up her protein with some brewers yeast &/or gamebird starter &/or mealworms, that will help with wound healing. Is it time for Rooster & Dumplings?

 

[Eggcessive]

Plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment are great for putting on the wounds after cleaning the wounds with chlorhexidene twice a day. Do you have any pictures?

 

[BarredRockMom]

Awww, poor hen! I agree with the previous posters' suggestions & wish you both good health and peace in the flock. If he's responsible for that nonsense then good job taking action. If you really want or need a roo, there are lots of nice ones who won't hurt their flock. (Ay yay yay, those younguns & their hormones sometimes!!)

Hope she heals quickly. And you may want to give the rest of the ladies a once over to be sure that no one else has any injuries that need tending or watched over.

 

[EggWalrus]

Is it a young cockerel or a full grown rooster with spurs? I had lots of hens get side cuts from me not keeping rooster's spurs trimmed like I should. But that was MY fault, not the rooster. He can't help growing spurs and they are going to mate. If I had kept the spurs trimmed, he couldn't have cut up the hens.
You call this bird a cockerel, yet blame him for the hens injuries. It was my understanding a cockerel (or Roo) is a male, less than a year old, with just spur buds/nubs.
The bird you have sentenced to death is only 5 months, and can you get any pics while he is still alive. He might not be capable of doing the damage that he is accused of. It would suck to condemn him to death, when he could be the best rooster you ever had (when he's grown).
If you just want to eat him, that's one thing, just eat him. But no need to justify killing him by blaming him for something he isn't physically capable of doing.

 

[Folly's place]

I disagree here; if this cockerel caused these injuries, he needs to go. I do hope, as I said earlier, that he is the 'bad guy' in this story, and that it's not someone else.
I'll add that my roosters, with spurs, do not injure their hens. I trim spurs when they get long and awkward for the bird to get around, so they've been plenty long enough to cause harm if that was intended.
That's been my experience here, which appears to differ from yours.
Mary

 

[slordaz]

my 9 month old cockerel didn't even have but spur buds, but almost gave his life defending his hens. At this age hormones are just now starting to kick in and we all know how that goes until it levels out. He's your cockerel to do with as you please, but in all fairness you should have kept him separated so he couldn't do this when hormones hit. I would think the kind of damage your mentioning is more likely from a predator trying to get your hen than the cockerel.
Why not post a picture of set up? so maybe we can help you figure out the issue
My hens come and go as they please and have plenty of room to get away and hide from a hormone crazed teenage cockerel

 

[BarredRockMom]

Not saying one way or another but is it possible that if it was who OP thinks it was that caused the injury that he grabbed onto the hen instead of the wings? Or in trying to grab the wings clawed the b'jeezus outta the hen? Is that possible? No sarcasm or disrespect meant, I genuinely wonder.

 

[Folly's place]

With the information given by the OP, we can only guess. Predators abound, but if the birds were in a safe coop, that limits the possibilities.
Mary