- Feb 22, 2013
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I have a strange rooster situation. It's not an emergency, but I'm posting here because my rooms limping so this story kind of falls under the injury category.
I had two roosters with my hens: Jacques and Carson. Jacques was the clear number one rooster and Carson didnt really challenge him at all, since they had grown up together (Jacques is 18 weeks old, Carson is 17 weeks old).
A few weeks ago we got a one year-ish old Cochin rooster and three hens to add to our flock. Their quarantine ended on Sunday and I made them a little enclosure within my chicken run. Everyone was getting along fine through the wire and the new hens had escaped into the run a few times with no issues, so when a thunderstorm was coming in Monday night I decided to put the Cochins in the coop once all the other birds were roosting to keep them out of the weather. I tried the cologne suggestion that someone here had given me and Tuesday morning when I checked on them at 6 am they all seemed content. But when I went back to check later that morning I found Jacques hiding in a nesting box with his comb bloody and the Cochin rooster was strutting around the run. I tended to the comb with blue kote and checked back later, but they seem to have worked it out that the Cochin is number one in the run and haven't bickered since.
I'm starting to worry about Jacques though. Since the incident he spends all of his time sleeping in a nesting box if they are all in the coop/run area and if I let them out to free range, he hides under my deck and sleeps there. His comb is already starting to heal, but he does have a limp and has been walking very slowly. I don't think that there is anything broken though. He looks fine but is just acting really depressed. The strange thing is that Carson was initially very protective of Jacques since this happened, but there were a few times today where Carson chased Jacques back into the coop, and he has even tried to mount him. I can't figure out what is going in with them. Tonight Carson refused to go back into the coop without Jacques, but when I finally got Jacques out from under my deck, Carson attacked him and chased him under a bush. Carson hasn't bothered to mess with the Cochin at all, so at first I thought he was content being #3, but now it seems like maybe he is trying to snag Jacques' #2 spot? It's strange though how protective he is over Jacques one minute, and then the next minute he is chasing him around.
Sooo I am wondering, is there anything health wise that I need to check Jacques for? Should I be concerned that he is hiding and sleeping so much? Or is he just depressed that he is no longer number one? Aside from Jacques' behavior, everyone else has settled in really well and it was a really easy flock addition. I'm just really worried about my favorite roo! Any thoughts or insights will be helpful!
I had two roosters with my hens: Jacques and Carson. Jacques was the clear number one rooster and Carson didnt really challenge him at all, since they had grown up together (Jacques is 18 weeks old, Carson is 17 weeks old).
A few weeks ago we got a one year-ish old Cochin rooster and three hens to add to our flock. Their quarantine ended on Sunday and I made them a little enclosure within my chicken run. Everyone was getting along fine through the wire and the new hens had escaped into the run a few times with no issues, so when a thunderstorm was coming in Monday night I decided to put the Cochins in the coop once all the other birds were roosting to keep them out of the weather. I tried the cologne suggestion that someone here had given me and Tuesday morning when I checked on them at 6 am they all seemed content. But when I went back to check later that morning I found Jacques hiding in a nesting box with his comb bloody and the Cochin rooster was strutting around the run. I tended to the comb with blue kote and checked back later, but they seem to have worked it out that the Cochin is number one in the run and haven't bickered since.
I'm starting to worry about Jacques though. Since the incident he spends all of his time sleeping in a nesting box if they are all in the coop/run area and if I let them out to free range, he hides under my deck and sleeps there. His comb is already starting to heal, but he does have a limp and has been walking very slowly. I don't think that there is anything broken though. He looks fine but is just acting really depressed. The strange thing is that Carson was initially very protective of Jacques since this happened, but there were a few times today where Carson chased Jacques back into the coop, and he has even tried to mount him. I can't figure out what is going in with them. Tonight Carson refused to go back into the coop without Jacques, but when I finally got Jacques out from under my deck, Carson attacked him and chased him under a bush. Carson hasn't bothered to mess with the Cochin at all, so at first I thought he was content being #3, but now it seems like maybe he is trying to snag Jacques' #2 spot? It's strange though how protective he is over Jacques one minute, and then the next minute he is chasing him around.
Sooo I am wondering, is there anything health wise that I need to check Jacques for? Should I be concerned that he is hiding and sleeping so much? Or is he just depressed that he is no longer number one? Aside from Jacques' behavior, everyone else has settled in really well and it was a really easy flock addition. I'm just really worried about my favorite roo! Any thoughts or insights will be helpful!
