I currently have all my birds locked up in an enclosure, 20 of them, 3 being roosters/cockerels. Before when they were free-range with the whole property to explore, they got along alright. Now, with the three boys locked up with the 17 hens, I think it may be causing the issue.
Case in point; today's topic. My injured buff orpington cockerel. The front portion of his neck is bloody and gruesome. I found him this morning and pulled him from the group, placing him in a dog-crate in the barn for the time being. He's strong but very quite freaked out by everything. I had to chase him to catch and remove him, trying my best not to further stress him out but I definitely didn't want to leave him in there to be picked at further.
He's eating and drinking alright, though I haven't cleaned or done anything with the wound. I don't even know how serious the wound is yet. So far he's just being left to himself in the barn. I have some supplies to help patch him up, but he's definitely not going to sit calmly while I do it. I'll need help holding him so that I can properly sort him out.
I also will be getting another pen set up to remove the other cockerel from the group, leaving only our head roo with the girls. That way we don't have any more roosters fighting in this group. Our other group (4 cockerels, 7 pullets, bantams) seem to be doing fine for the moment, but I'll still be watching for anything like this.
(It could still be some sort of predator, but given the circumstances, I'm more prone to think it's the rooster's fighting amongst each other)
One sad thing about this whole situation, we're not planning to keep the guy who's been injured around. We were/are either going to rehome him or cull him.
I had someone approach me looking for a buff rooster a few hours after I found him injured and I had to turn them away. I'd never had anyone actually interested in a rooster, it sucks that the one time it happens it happens when the poor guy is hurt and needing medical care.
Should I just cull him?
Anyway, that was a long kind of ramble just to help say where my head is at right now. I'd like a bit of help with figuring out exactly what I should be doing to minimize the stress and hurt this guy is in get his wound(s) properly taken care of.
When treating this guy, with a neck wound that is still irritated and bloody, how should I approach cleaning and treating him? While I do have some emergency pet/livestock patching kits, I've never had to use them. I don't give my chickens bathes with water but it seems for this it'd be unavoidable. Would you use any specific soaps while cleaning the wounded area?
For this guy, I don't think we'll be taking him to the vet unless maybe we can have him humanly euthanized since we likely won't be eating him?
(Image from when I first brought him in, I removed the cup that's pictured and replaced it with a shallow food dish so he wouldn't keep irritating his wound on it. I had the pen originally set up for a different reason and chicken.)
Case in point; today's topic. My injured buff orpington cockerel. The front portion of his neck is bloody and gruesome. I found him this morning and pulled him from the group, placing him in a dog-crate in the barn for the time being. He's strong but very quite freaked out by everything. I had to chase him to catch and remove him, trying my best not to further stress him out but I definitely didn't want to leave him in there to be picked at further.
He's eating and drinking alright, though I haven't cleaned or done anything with the wound. I don't even know how serious the wound is yet. So far he's just being left to himself in the barn. I have some supplies to help patch him up, but he's definitely not going to sit calmly while I do it. I'll need help holding him so that I can properly sort him out.
I also will be getting another pen set up to remove the other cockerel from the group, leaving only our head roo with the girls. That way we don't have any more roosters fighting in this group. Our other group (4 cockerels, 7 pullets, bantams) seem to be doing fine for the moment, but I'll still be watching for anything like this.
(It could still be some sort of predator, but given the circumstances, I'm more prone to think it's the rooster's fighting amongst each other)
One sad thing about this whole situation, we're not planning to keep the guy who's been injured around. We were/are either going to rehome him or cull him.
I had someone approach me looking for a buff rooster a few hours after I found him injured and I had to turn them away. I'd never had anyone actually interested in a rooster, it sucks that the one time it happens it happens when the poor guy is hurt and needing medical care.
Should I just cull him?
Anyway, that was a long kind of ramble just to help say where my head is at right now. I'd like a bit of help with figuring out exactly what I should be doing to minimize the stress and hurt this guy is in get his wound(s) properly taken care of.
When treating this guy, with a neck wound that is still irritated and bloody, how should I approach cleaning and treating him? While I do have some emergency pet/livestock patching kits, I've never had to use them. I don't give my chickens bathes with water but it seems for this it'd be unavoidable. Would you use any specific soaps while cleaning the wounded area?
For this guy, I don't think we'll be taking him to the vet unless maybe we can have him humanly euthanized since we likely won't be eating him?
(Image from when I first brought him in, I removed the cup that's pictured and replaced it with a shallow food dish so he wouldn't keep irritating his wound on it. I had the pen originally set up for a different reason and chicken.)
