Help. Bleeding hen & roo

[Jody]

I brought home a barred rock roo. I had the roo outside of run with hens inside run.. when the roo & a barred rock hen started pecking at each other through the wire.. now both have bleeding at the base of their combs just above the beak.

What do I do? Are they gonna bleed to death or will it heal fine on its own.


I'm going to house the roo separate.

 

[Kittymomma]

You can put some flour or cornstarch on them to stop the bleeding. Keeping the roo seperate is a good idea, should quarintine anyhow. If the hens wounds attract the other hen and they start pecking at her you may need to seperate her for awhile too. Good luck with them.

 

[alicefelldown]

You are going to want to quarantine the new rooster for about 30 days - watching carefully for any signs of sickness.

He should be kept in a separate area from your birds - you do not want to have the wind blowing anything off him and into your other chickens. Take care of and handle your main birds first every day, save him for the end.

Sure, nothing might happen if you throw them together now, but you are also putting your entire flock at risk by allowing them to be near each other. Search these boards for tragic stories of people having to cull their flock because they brought home a bird who wasn't yet showing signs of Mareks or the pox.

Best of luck.

 

[Jody]

This rooster is amazing.. Very very friendly.. likes being held.. roosts like a hawk on my arm and/or shoulders, and my what a vocal one he is too.. His legs appear far healthier than those of my hens.. nice coloring, strong yellow and smooth.

I got him from a local feed store whom was seeking a home for him. When I told them I'd have to quarantine him, they said he's in perfect health and is a free ranger. He's about/around 1yr of age.

So, he's out in the yard free ranging.

I did intend on keeping him separated from the hens, but when I turned my back he was at the run and I saw them pecking each other. It was when I picked him up to remove him away from run that I saw the bleeding on both of them.. His neck feathers were all raised and he was jumping up and down sticking out his legs. I caught part of it on video and will post it some time.

I took a roll of burlap and wrapped it around the run so that roo will not see hens and hens won't see roo and to prevent this pecking again as I plan on allowing the roo to free range since he's so far very well behaved. I'm also working on building his housing. My wife says he can come in the house and free range in the home tonight if I don't finish by dark.

 

[Jody]

I uploaded the video to youtube. Had I known what was going on I wouldn't have allowed this. I didn't know and thought it was some mating ritual. Didn't know til I put cam down that they were hurting each other.

 

[VTGIRL]

He is a fine looking rooster! Maybe it was a mating ritual? but since the fence was in the way....... what else could they do

 

[alicefelldown]

Quote:
I'm sorry - but I don't think I would trust the local feed store with the health of my flock. The rooster might have been a-ok with them (you didn't mention if they raised him or if someone else brought him to the store), but these are YOUR birds - do you want to risk an infection or worse? There is a local feed store in my neck of the woods that sold healthy pullets to a friend of mine. He didn't quarantine and now these birds now have full blown marek's and he's had to cull his entire flock of adult birds.

As MissPrissy says: (https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock)

When you get new chickens, please do not go straight home and put them in with your current flock. Do not put them in a pen inside your existing coop. Do not house them in the same area as your current flock.

Be prepared. Make a place for them to live alone and away from your current flock for an extended time. If you don't have an area now, then please don't get new chickens until you do.

New chickens need to be quarantined away from your other chickens for at least 30 days. Each flock of chickens has their own germs that make them immune to certain things in their environment.​

 

[Jody]

Quote:
I'm sorry - but I don't think I would trust the local feed store with the health of my flock. The rooster might have been a-ok with them (you didn't mention if they raised him or if someone else brought him to the store), but these are YOUR birds - do you want to risk an infection or worse? There is a local feed store in my neck of the woods that sold healthy pullets to a friend of mine. He didn't quarantine and now these birds now have full blown marek's and he's had to cull his entire flock of adult birds.

As MissPrissy says: (https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock)

When you get new chickens, please do not go straight home and put them in with your current flock. Do not put them in a pen inside your existing coop. Do not house them in the same area as your current flock.

Be prepared. Make a place for them to live alone and away from your current flock for an extended time. If you don't have an area now, then please don't get new chickens until you do.

New chickens need to be quarantined away from your other chickens for at least 30 days. Each flock of chickens has their own germs that make them immune to certain things in their environment.
​

I hope it's not too late.. He had contact with the hen as seen in the video.. I also handled both him and a hen without washing in between.

I built him shelter, but put it adjacent to the coop/run that the hens are in. First thing in the am I will move it to the other side of the yard. I wanted to allow him free range, but don't have fence to block run where hens are, so guess he should stay in a run of his own.

He came from someone local to the feed store that brought him there to find a home for him.

 

[alicefelldown]

I hope everything works out, 9 times out of 10 (and most stats are made up

) everything goes great!

Another bonus is with the boy caged, he gets to know you better before you introduce him to your flock. Just make sure you handle and feed your main flock first, (no hand washing) and the new bird last. Keeping your birds germs/dust on you before you visit him allows him to acclimate to your environment at the same time you are watching him for signs of illness.

Best of luck!!