Pecking order??

[esavvymom]

I understand about the pecking order and such. We arent sure if that is what is going on now or not, but we have three adult males. One has acted odd for the last few weeks.....sometimes stays in the coop (but the bickering back and forth between him and the two others outside is crazy! ) eventually, he comes out, just doesnt like to be rushed we thought. But he is the back of the pack for sure. Usually sitting as they roam around the yard...the other two eat. We have never seen them fighting.

The last two days, he is slow to go into the coop....he will sit down and almost whine as we come near. Last night, my husband caught the other two pecking at him onhis back....now it is all bloody and obviously injured. Tonight, he was sitting in the corner (head first) with his back to the door, again, just whiny. The other two were close by. We arent sure if we should do anything or let nature take it's course??

I read this about the pecking order and it describes the last few weeks perfectly.

There are times when one is shunned. This is a very stressful situation too, as the lone guinea will call and call for his flock, but they will harass him and chase him away. For that guinea, make sure he can get into the coop safely at night (either first or last) and give him some hiding places in the coop - a shelf to hide under or a corner protected by an extra piece of wood. It's uncertain why the group will occasionally shun a particular guinea fowl; but perhaps there is a deformity or disease that they are aware of which we can't see, and they are driving him away for the good of the flock.

Any suggestions? We can protect him a bit from the other two....using something we made that lets our keets into the run by themselves. Should we try that? Even if we protect it, not sure what to do with him after that.

 

[silkielover249]

What id o for my roosters is seperate him in his own little coop and run, let him heal, and keep applying neosporin and when the wound closes up keep sunscreen on him so he wont burn ( cute right?). now you have a choice, see if he is accepcted back in the group without harm ( which can start the whole thing over again) or put some females with him and give him his own flock.
Hope I helped!

 

[PeepsCA]

They will end up killing him, if they haven't already. Once they draw blood to that point, they usually continue. And now that he's injured badly they really see him as a threat or weak link to the flock (even tho they caused the injuries). He needs to be caged/crated near them, but protected from further injury. Clean his wounds up, and slather on the Neosporin like silkielover mentioned. If you separate him completely where they can't see him the chances of them ever allowing him to return to the flock are extra slim tho... they will see him as a new bird and attack him again. It may be breeding season hormones that are causing the aggression, and as soon as the weather cools down and the daylight hours shorten the aggression can calm down, but if they are determined to ostracise him from the flock he will need to be kept separate permanently...

Do you have Guinea Hens too, or just these 3 males?

 

[esavvymom]

We have at least one hen in our group of keets (they are around 7 weeks old and in a visible, yet separate area of the same coop).

I checked on him today, and he is not bloody that I could see,a nd the two adults acted protective of him when I came around. But the one in question was sitting, then tried to stand, wobbled a bit and sat back down....so we think he is sick, just not entirely sure with what. Whatever it is, it seems to have been happening gradually over the last 4-6weeks we think based on his gradual withdrawal and less activity. I will call the local farm places and see what they recommend.

 

[PeepsCA]

Plain Neosporin (or the generic equivalent), without the pain relief in it will help his wounds heal well. A lot of us with a lot of Guinea/poultry experience use it all of the time.

I personally don't have a whole lot of faith in what feed store employees recommend, lol, but if your feed store carries Blu-Kote or NuStock both of those meds will also work well on the wounds too (both are livestock topical meds), but they cost a lot more than Neosporin.