Injured Rooster

[LoSmith]

Our rooster injured his foot (bloody but only a small amount) but we don’t know how bad the injury is or how to clean it since he will not allow us to handle him. He is not aggressive as long as his personal space is respected, but get too close or try and catch him and he fights back big time. He is a very large black copper maran and has sliced my leg open with his spur previously when trying to inspect an injury to his comb (turned out to be very minor and healed quickly without intervention). Should we just leave it and closely monitor for infection or does anyone have any advice on how to handle him without causing major injury to us?

 

[swamphiker]

A couple of things you can do to make catching him easier:
-Wait until he is roosting at night
-Use an old sheet or towel, or potentially even a net, to scoop him up

Also, wear protective clothing to reduce the chances of being injured. Good luck to you and your rooster! If he doesn't seem bothered by it and there isn't much blood, it's probably fine, but it's always good to check if you can.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

I would at least clean it up a bit as it is a foot injury making infection likely, but wait until he is roosting if he's aggressive.

 

[Weeg]

Heres what you need to do. Get all of your supplies setup and on hand. You'll need some kind of cleaning solution, Chlorhexidine, Vererycin, diluted iodine, or something similar. Neosporin WITHOUT pain relief, and some cotton swabs.
Once its dark, take a towel out with you can cover his head while you take him off the roost. Once you get his head covered, he wont struggle. Chickens aren't morning people, meaning if you wake them up or grab them off the roost, they don't wake up immediately, they're still very drowsy and confused.
Wrap his wings with the towel and cover his head. You can have someone help you hold him down, but I like to flip them on their backs and hold them between my legs while sitting on the ground. This will give you full access to his foot.
You'll want to flush it with some kind of wound cleanser, and then coat it in a thick layer of Neosporin. If you don't have pain relief free Neosporin, any antibiotic ointment without pain relief works fine. Bag Balm works as well, I've heard. Coat it with something to give it some protection, but don't wrap. Wrapping incorrectly can result in trapped bacteria etc.
Keep an eye on the wound after this and try to treat every, or every other day depending on how bad it is. Keep us updated!