We had a dog incident day-before-yesterday. We lost the dominant roo and a guinea, the lowest ranked (large) roo lost only tail feathers and was found a loooong way from the coop (and the dog) lol My son, Duncan, found the second in command laying near the dead roo and he, at first thought it was dead, too. He was flat on his side and had lost alot of feathers, but we soon realized he was breathing. I brought him in and put him in a crate with heat and food/water. I left him alone to keep him as quiet as possible and when I looked in on him later he was up on his belly in a "nesting" position. To make a long story short, he recovered and I went to reintroduce him to he flock this afternoon. I put him down on the floor of the coop and my little polish made a beeline for him. The polish, Tony, had been lowest on the pecking order because he is only half the size of the other roos and they all like to peck his crest feathers out. When Tony saw Darty, he rushed him and attacked! Darty, although caught by surprise, fought back and came away with a mouthful of feathers! LOL Kicked Tony's hiney! Facts clearly presented 1) Darty has recovered! 2) Darty has no intention of accepting a lower rank 3) Tony is opportunistic (is not above kicking a man when he is down!) 4) The only other large roo has no interest in rank! LOL!
It is getting cold tonight and he spent a couple of days under a lamp, so I decided to bring him back to the crate for the night. I think I will take him out in the morning and let them get the order worked out in the light of day instead of trying to decide it on the roost.
BTW: It appears that the roo was only in shock, as I found no blood or wounds. He started eating the second day and I'm sure was sore from being pounced upon and having lots of feathers ripped out. I know he was extremely lucky and could have easily died just from the shock of being attacked. The things I want to pass on are that shock is just as bad as physical injury and I learned that the digestive system will shut down as a result..Darty had a full crop when he was attacked and it didn't empty until over 24 hours later. Just FYI from my observations....
It is getting cold tonight and he spent a couple of days under a lamp, so I decided to bring him back to the crate for the night. I think I will take him out in the morning and let them get the order worked out in the light of day instead of trying to decide it on the roost.
BTW: It appears that the roo was only in shock, as I found no blood or wounds. He started eating the second day and I'm sure was sore from being pounced upon and having lots of feathers ripped out. I know he was extremely lucky and could have easily died just from the shock of being attacked. The things I want to pass on are that shock is just as bad as physical injury and I learned that the digestive system will shut down as a result..Darty had a full crop when he was attacked and it didn't empty until over 24 hours later. Just FYI from my observations....
