HELP!!! Rooster with head injuries not eating!

[Peregrine]

Quote:
I thought that Advil was aspirin...shows how much I know. Well, I'm going to stop it now anyway according to someone else's advice.

He's doing much better now. I saw him eating a little bit yesterday afternoon, he's crowing, and his tail is not drooping so much. I will try washing him off again, but I'm afraid that I'll open up the wounds. Thanks for all of the good advice from everyone. I am keeping him inside, and I have the space heater going in the bathroom to keep him nice and toasty. I'll keep you updated on his condition. It's nice to hear the encouragement that he'll probably be fine. Maybe I should rename him with a pirate-sounding name...

 

[usschicago1]

Quote:
I thought that Advil was aspirin...shows how much I know. Well, I'm going to stop it now anyway according to someone else's advice.

He's doing much better now. I saw him eating a little bit yesterday afternoon, he's crowing, and his tail is not drooping so much. I will try washing him off again, but I'm afraid that I'll open up the wounds. Thanks for all of the good advice from everyone. I am keeping him inside, and I have the space heater going in the bathroom to keep him nice and toasty. I'll keep you updated on his condition. It's nice to hear the encouragement that he'll probably be fine. Maybe I should rename him with a pirate-sounding name...

Oh sounds good! Crowing is a good sign!

 

[Peregrine]

Road Runner is doing so much better now!

He's eating (although he seems to prefer the soft mushy cereal and speghetti to the pellets), and he's drinking A LOT! And he's crowing a lot. He crows as a reaction to noise the kids are making, I believe he crows when he wants some more water (I have suspected before when he was with the rest of the flock that he would crow to inform me that the water or food dish was empty--has anyone else noticed this, or is it just my imagination?

) and he may even be crowing to find the hens. His tail is nice and errect, and he is not sleeping as much as before. As long as nothing gets infected, he should make it!

His other eye is still closed tight. I took a warm, wet rag to it yesterday to see if there was dried blood keeping it closed, but there was none. I have noticed it open a slit when he crowed, but that was it. I'm still hoping that it's just swollen shut, but he's learning to compensate already with just one eye.

How long do you think I should keep him inside? (It really stinks!) Our avarage high here is about 60, low about 50. I still plan on keeping him away from the other chickens for a while, maybe just one mild hen to keep him company.

P.S. What are scaly leg mites?

 

[chickensioux]

Great! I have a one eyed duck and she does fine. Scaly let mites are mites that live under the scales on poultry legs. You can tell they have them if the scales are raised up or sticking out. If the legs are smooth, they dont have them.

 

[Peregrine]

Hey everyone! I've got good news and bad news...

The good news is that my rooster open his eye yesterday!

The bad news is that there was nothing underneath. The eyeball is completely gone. I guess he'll have to survive with one.

But other than that, he seems OK. I put him outside in our fenced-in garden yesterday and he did great. Put a hen with him today and he was just as protective as ever.

The next question is, how do I get rid of the rooster I don't want? I have no problems "inviting him for dinner", but what is the best age to eat a chicken? And how do people who raise chickens for meat keep the roosters from fighting? My rooster is 7 mo. old.

PS--I built a feeder this afternoon so I can feed the chickens without going in the yucky coop anymore. I'm very proud of myself!

 

[chickensioux]

Glad to hear he if fine even though he did lose the eye.

 

[CMV]

Quote:
The Meat Birds section of this site has full detailed instructions on how to process birds. You can eat birds of any age, but the results may vary depending on breed. At 7 months old he may be a bit on the scrawny side if he's one of the breeds that grows first and then fills in later, but he may be perfectly fine, too. The only way to keep roosters from fighting is to separate them from each other or separate them from the girls.
Good luck. I hope your roo continues to recover.

 

[M To The Maxx]

Good to hear he is okay!

He will be just fine with one eye.

 

[usschicago1]

How is he? Any updates?