Help!!! Rooster almost killed my best hen " Big Momma"

[Minnesotan]

 

[Minnesotan]

 

[Minnesotan]

Sorry those are pretty graphic. I put some antibiotic cream on her and we'll see how she does through the night. She is definitely missing her right eye though and the wound is pretty big.

 

[Veer67]

I would try and wash the wounds then put the Neosporin on, you could also try to bandage the wounds.

 

[Veer67]

Poor girl, let's hope that she makes it through the night.

 

[Minnesotan]

I washed the wound with plan water and a towel as much as she would let me, then I put some more cream on it. I did get her to drink some more water too.

 

[MelissaTXRn]

I am wondering if it was some predator??? That is pretty bad for a rooster wound

 

[theoldchick]

I agree. That's pretty severe trauma and looks like a raccoon tried to get to her by reaching through wire. It also could be the rooster might have done something to make her bleed and the hens went after her. Either way, it's an awful looking wound. I hope she recovers. Keep an eye on your flock.

 

[Muffinburgler]

Oh goodness that's some pretty bad mangling. If you could, I'd just get her to the vet and have her stitched up, cleaning the wounds yourself might not be enough.

I agree with the others, this sounds more like a predator attack that the rooster prevented from getting lethal. I would watch him with the other hens though, just to make sure. If it was him, he might attack the others.

 

[Minnesotan]

Well, I've been mending her wounds all day, but they're pretty severe. I let her out of her separate cage just for a second to see what the rooster would do. He went crazy and tried attacking her immediately, he was making growling noises I've never heard before. So I'm almost 100% sure he is the culprit. It still is very confusing though because the other eight hens love him and follow him around the yard all day.

So now I think I need to make a decision on whether to keep the rooster or the wounded hen, even if she survives I think he'll keep attacking her until she dies.

I've been talking to the people that gave me the chickens and they are just as baffled as I am. The only explanation they can think is that the Hen Big Momma was kind of the dominate hen when they had them and she lived on a separate side of the barn than the young rooster( they have 85 chickens). They have there chickens separated by age, one half of the barn is the egg layers and the other half is younger chickens including up and coming roosters. So the rooster and the hen had never met before i got them. The fist couple of weeks everything seemed fairly normal while they figured out the pecking order, she seemed more like a rooster than he did. She kind of bossed him around, but now he has gotten huge and much more dominate than her and I believe this is what possessed him to attack her. All the other hens let him rule the roost.