First serious Cockerel Fight

[jBabychickn]

Ugh… Stressful/Crazy evening yesterday. My first flock is now 6-7mos old. I have Salmon Faverolles & Jubilee Orpingtons with 2 Cockerels (one of each breed) that grew up together and planned to keep. But, this is the difficult time of hormones surfacing…And, the pecking order just got serious. They fought over a particular pullet and my JO badly lacerated the SF’s comb. Needless to say, tons of bleeding, took a lots of Quick stop and pressure, and the Hubs and I were specked with blood from all his head shaking. Luckily, I’m a retired RN, but my poor Hubs just about fainted; we knew this could happen, but doesn’t things like this always take you for a ride anyway!!

Here’s we’re I need some feedback and advice. I’ve got my injured guy, Blue we call him, in a large dog kennel in the house. He’s doing well, thankfully. Eating and drinking, now longer bleeding. Today I still need to try to clean him up and doctor him further.
How do I know when he can go back?
I feel a bit sorry for the guy; he’s crowing like crazy and seems restless.

What should I do with my JO? Right now he’s still out with the flock. Which is bothering me a bit. I kinda feel like he’s thinking he won. Unfortunately, I don’t really have another place to put him other than maybe our shed that I may be able to make shift into something?

Now, we’re seriously thinking of rehoming the JO, he’s a beautiful bird. Emotions all over the place here!

On a happy note! We got our first EGG yesterday too!!!!

 

[Isadora]

Was your original plan to keep both of them? I would start trying to rehome one ASAP.
I have two cockerels I have to either rehome or eat as I'm sure fighting is in the future. It's just a matter of time.
More than one rooster can be kept if you have enough space and ladies plus places to hide, but fights are practically inevitable.
If you are really motivated to keep both, you could also do a separate coop with some ladies of his own.

 

[abpatchy]

In his mind the JO won. For sure. Combs do bleed something fierce... it looks much worse than it probably was. I would add some wound care like blue cote (I think this is what it is called).. it prevents the other chickens from picking at his wound. Other than that just put him back with the flock. Unless you feel like he is not feeling well.
But keeping both will probably not work.

 

[K0k0shka]

The JO won by all measures, but that's not grounds to get rid of him if you are going to get rid of one. For the sake of peace and ease of your life, it would be best to get rid of one of them, but you should think about the criteria when picking which one. Why do you want to get rid of the JO? Is he aggressive towards people? Is he rough with the pullets? Just because he won a fight, doesn't automatically make him a bad rooster (or worse than the other one). He just won a fight, that's all, and fights are normal and natural between hormonal males. It's still too early to tell how either of them is going to shape up when fully grown, and either could turn out to be aggressive to humans (or not). But they are forcing your hand, and you have to pick sides now. So, use whatever knowledge you have of their personalities as of right now, and make your judgement based on the full picture, not just on the outcome of one fight. Think about what qualities you want in a rooster, and which one of the two birds comes closer to that. Keep the one that you like more, regardless of who's bleeding at this particular moment.

 

[jBabychickn]

Was your original plan to keep both of them? I would start trying to rehome one ASAP.
I have two cockerels I have to either rehome or eat as I'm sure fighting is in the future. It's just a matter of time.
More than one rooster can be kept if you have enough space and ladies plus places to hide, but fights are practically inevitable.
If you are really motivated to keep both, you could also do a separate coop with some ladies of his own.

I did wanna try to keep them both, even tho one was planned and one was a surprise. I think I still hung onto unrealistic expectations, however.

 

[jBabychickn]

In his mind the JO won. For sure. Combs do bleed something fierce... it looks much worse than it probably was. I would add some wound care like blue cote (I think this is what it is called).. it prevents the other chickens from picking at his wound. Other than that just put him back with the flock. Unless you feel like he is not feeling well.
But keeping both will probably not work.

Yes, I think it’s much better now. We’ve used the Blu-cote on it and it hasn’t bled since. But of course he’s been inside since last night. However, he’s not listless or anything and is active, eating/drinking, enjoying his special treats & attention, and crowing like crazy inside the house, etc…So, I definitely plan to put him back out this afternoon when they go out to free range. I just need to figure out what to do with the other rooster as I don’t want him with him again.

 

[jBabychickn]

The JO won by all measures, but that's not grounds to get rid of him if you are going to get rid of one. For the sake of peace and ease of your life, it would be best to get rid of one of them, but you should think about the criteria when picking which one. Why do you want to get rid of the JO? Is he aggressive towards people? Is he rough with the pullets? Just because he won a fight, doesn't automatically make him a bad rooster (or worse than the other one). He just won a fight, that's all, and fights are normal and natural between hormonal males. It's still too early to tell how either of them is going to shape up when fully grown, and either could turn out to be aggressive to humans (or not). But they are forcing your hand, and you have to pick sides now. So, use whatever knowledge you have of their personalities as of right now, and make your judgement based on the full picture, not just on the outcome of one fight. Think about what qualities you want in a rooster, and which one of the two birds comes closer to that. Keep the one that you like more, regardless of who's bleeding at this particular moment.

Very good perspective; thank you for sharing. The JO is the more aggressive guy, towards us but not too bad, something I think we could correct in the long run; but it is there and compared to our SF, it’s nonexistent. He’s not aggressive towards us at all, in fact he welcomes us. Then, there’s the girls. The JO mates without permission and will generally upset them while the SF is much more gentle about it. Now, I’m not saying he’s perfect by any means, I have seen his hormones get the best of him a few times but at least the girls don’t squawk out so he must be gentle somehow, when it’s the JO the girls do cry out and fuss at him about it.

 

[K0k0shka]

Very good perspective; thank you for sharing. The JO is the more aggressive guy, towards us but not too bad, something I think we could correct in the long run; but it is there and compared to our SF, it’s nonexistent. He’s not aggressive towards us at all, in fact he welcomes us. Then, there’s the girls. The JO mates without permission and will generally upset them while the SF is much more gentle about it. Now, I’m not saying he’s perfect by any means, I have seen his hormones get the best of him a few times but at least the girls don’t squawk out so he must be gentle somehow, when it’s the JO the girls do cry out and fuss at him about it.

With this additional information, it does sound like the SF is your better choice indeed. Start out by separating the JO somewhere before putting the SF back with the flock (otherwise you'll likely have round 2 of that drama and more injuries). Keep the SF with the flock and the JO separate until you figure out how you can get rid of him. If you're up for it, you can make a nice meal out of him. Orps are bigger and meatier than a lot of other breeds, and can make a wonderful meal for your family! You don't need a lot of setup or expensive supplies either - you can do it easily with stuff you can find around your house, like buckets and trash bags and what not. And a very sharp knife (or wire cutters!)

 

[jBabychickn]

With this additional information, it does sound like the SF is your better choice indeed. Start out by separating the JO somewhere before putting the SF back with the flock (otherwise you'll likely have round 2 of that drama and more injuries). Keep the SF with the flock and the JO separate until you figure out how you can get rid of him. If you're up for it, you can make a nice meal out of him. Orps are bigger and meatier than a lot of other breeds, and can make a wonderful meal for your family! You don't need a lot of setup or expensive supplies either - you can do it easily with stuff you can find around your house, like buckets and trash bags and what not. And a very sharp knife (or wire cutters!)

Thanks so much!!

 

[K0k0shka]

Thanks so much!!

Good luck!