My family's Rhode Island Red rooster, Marty, got in a fight with one of our other roosters yesterday. They are in separate coops with separate flocks of their own, and usually when we let them out to free-range they will stay away from each other, but yesterday I guess they felt like fighting again because they have been in their coops for most of the winter and haven't seen each other for a while. Well, while I wasn't outside watching them, they got into a fight and when I saw them facing off with each other I went out and broke them up and put them back in their coops. After examining them, Foghorn (the other rooster) had a few spots on his comb and wattles that had been pecked, but nothing serious. Marty, on the other hand, was bleeding quite a bit and I noticed that a piece of his wattle had been torn off.
We brought him inside and cleaned him up and put some flour on his wound to help stop the bleeding. By morning, it had scabbed over and started to heal.
But a little while ago, he was outside free-ranging again with his hens (Foghorn was in his coop...they aren't allowed to free-range together anymore, obviously) and I noticed that his wattle was bleeding quite a bit. His feathers on his chest had blood on them because it was so bad. So, my sister and I brought him inside and used a wet paper towel to clean up his feathers and his wattles. The wattle that had been split open yesterday had somehow been re-opened.
We put more flour on it to stop the bleeding, and that helped a little.
Right now he's being spoiled with treats (crackers, bread, etc.)
The bleeding seems to have stopped and he seems happy and fine now (and obviously he loves receiving all the attention and treats). He looks so comfortable that I think he's going to take a nap on my couch to digest all those treats he had!
Is it OK for us to just leave him alone and let his wattle heal? We're going to make sure none of the other chickens peck at it and make it worse and if it starts bleeding again, we will clean it up and use flour to help stop it.
Is there anything else we can do? Will he be OK as long as none of the other chickens peck at it?
Thanks!
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UPDATE:
Now that I looked at his wound more closely, I noticed that the wattle that was torn looks a little swollen and looks like it is bruised (darker and more purple/green colored). The actual torn part of it has black crust around it (which is the dried blood that has scabbed over from yesterday...we left it there because when it heals it will eventually come off and we didn't want to mess with the healing process).
But a little while ago, he was outside free-ranging again with his hens (Foghorn was in his coop...they aren't allowed to free-range together anymore, obviously) and I noticed that his wattle was bleeding quite a bit. His feathers on his chest had blood on them because it was so bad. So, my sister and I brought him inside and used a wet paper towel to clean up his feathers and his wattles. The wattle that had been split open yesterday had somehow been re-opened.
Right now he's being spoiled with treats (crackers, bread, etc.)
Is it OK for us to just leave him alone and let his wattle heal? We're going to make sure none of the other chickens peck at it and make it worse and if it starts bleeding again, we will clean it up and use flour to help stop it.
Is there anything else we can do? Will he be OK as long as none of the other chickens peck at it?
Thanks!
_____________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE:
Now that I looked at his wound more closely, I noticed that the wattle that was torn looks a little swollen and looks like it is bruised (darker and more purple/green colored). The actual torn part of it has black crust around it (which is the dried blood that has scabbed over from yesterday...we left it there because when it heals it will eventually come off and we didn't want to mess with the healing process).
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