Klutzy Cockerel!

[3KillerBs]

At least I presume that's what happened.

Chipotle hasn't quite come back into lay but she is squatting and investigating nestboxes so it must be soon.

I don't if it was Ludwig, who is MUCH larger than she is (Black Lanshan vs. California White), or Rameses, who is still figuring out the mating thing (20-weeks-old), but *somebody* must have grabbed her comb instead of the feathers on the back of her head because I found her comb bleeding this afternoon.

It's not very bad -- stopped on it's own. But I had to have DH get some of the blue spray on his way home from work and had my 16yo hold her while I sprayed it.

Both boys have been pretty gentle with the ladies so far so I'm presuming it was an accident due to the large size of the comb and the small size of the hen causing a "missed the target" problem with the neck grab.

I have to work tomorrow so I'm having my 16yo keep an eye on the situation with instructions to put her into the broody breaker if he sees any sign of the flock pecking at the wound.

 

[Isadora]

Could it have also been a pecking order thing? Not necessarily one of the boys?

 

[theoldchick]

Chickens do tussle a bit during their daily routines. Boss hens are always telling others to move along and if one hen is a bit slow or wants to challenge a good peck to the comb quickly sorts things out. It's common to find a few scabs here and there within your flock. I get involved when the bullying is getting intense. Getting involved means time-out, pinless peepers or permanent removal from the flock.

 

[3KillerBs]

Could it have also been a pecking order thing? Not necessarily one of the boys?

Possible, but unlikely.

She had dirty footprints on her back and the position of the wound was consistent with a male missing his grab target -- at the back of the comb down low rather than toward the top where one would expect a hen-peck (as a California White, she's the smallest adult in the flock, even smaller than the 20-week pullets).

 

[3KillerBs]

She's got her comb torn again so she's been blue-sprayed again.

We heard a commotion just before dark and I saw the bloody places when I took her out of the nestbox (she's not normally a nest-sleeper). I put her on a secondary roost out of the way of being picked.

I still don't know if it's deliberate bullying or just "teenage" klutzy-ness combined with a very large comb. She's a fairly dominant hen so she may not be submitting.

I'll try to get photos tomorrow -- I couldn't juggle the hen, the phone, and my headlamp to get the flash to work to take any pictures.