Could our rooster be injuring himself while mating?

mmikke

In the Brooder
Aug 9, 2023
30
27
46
Hello all! Hope everyone is doing well.

Our rooster has insanely long spurs, and I'm wondering if he's accidentally stabbing himself during mating sometimes.

He had a wound at the upper base of his tail awhile back that looked pretty darn bloody. We cleaned and treated it and he healed up nicely, behavior never changed or anything.
That was a few months ago.

Now just yesterday both me n the lady happened to be doing some work in the run and all the birds were meandering about and being regular ol chickens.
We both happened to look over at a time when the rooster mounted one of the hens and they did their thing. About ten minutes later my gf noticed that the upper base of his tail was wounded and bleeding again, with some feathers that appeared to be broken. There wasn't anything obvious that happened within those ten minutes that could have explained his new injury.
Could he somehow be accidentally stabbing himself? I will post photos in a reply to this post.

We've been meaning to do something about his spurs for awhile. Unfortunately he's not too keen on being handled(he's a jungle fowl I rescued from a dog attack) but if we cover his head at night he'll be pretty calm while being held, so I think I'll file his spurs down a bit.

Anyway, thanks in advance!
 
Photos of injury:(sorry they're not that great. He rarely stands still)
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With spurs like that he can injure not only himself but slice the hens open as well.
Check all your hens' sides where the wings will cover the injuries and treat if necessary.

I would grab him from the roost at night, bundle him up in a towel with only the legs sticking out and get my dremel to cut the spurs off.
This is best done with a second person holding the bundled birds legs while the other works with the dremel.
 

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