Please help ASAP! Rooster badly attacked by cockerel.

[MamaWolf7]

Please help! I do not know where to begin with treatment. Rooster attacked by cockerel.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

I see a bunch of blood, but hard to tell where it's coming from... Just his comb or is there a head/neck wound too? I don't have a lot of experience with injuries, but first thing I would do is make sure the bleeding has stopped. Light pressure with some gauze for a couple minutes might work (though it may start bleeding again if the gauze sticks to the wound) or styptic powder or corn starch can help with clotting. If you've got vetericyn or plain neosporin I'd put some on his wounds. Finally I'd keep him separated in a chicken "hospital" where he can rest and you can keep an eye on him. If he's eating and drinking and acting normal he should be fine.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have seen this happen to a good head rooster when a cockerel challenges. I would separate him temporarily, but then return him to the flock. Then separate the cockerel, and decide which one has to go. When I have had a junior cockerel who grew up in the flock challenge, he has usually backed down and assumed a subordinate position. But since I was happy with my senior gentle rooster, I sometimes had to rehome a cockerel. When they get to be about 4-5 months, they usually need to be separated if they don’t understand what subordinate means.

 

[Anime2lover]

Please help! I do not know where to begin with treatment. Rooster attacked by cockerel.

Where is the injury??

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Please help! I do not know where to begin with treatment. Rooster attacked by cockerel.

Photo of the other side of his face?

Do check him over for any injuries to the breast, under the wings, etc. just to be sure you're not missing anything.

To me, it looks like his comb was injured. Combs bleed a LOT and will run down and make the feathers a sticky mess. The comb will eventually stop bleeding.
If you are leaving him with his flock, then take a wet soapy rag and work on getting the sticky blood out of the feathers.

Dry him well. If it's cold, then use a hair dryer to dry him.

As for the comb. You can apply a bit of triple antibiotic ointment if you wish. I usually do nothing to combs. If the hens pick at it, then you'll have to move him for a while until it heals. Hens will do more damage by picking than often a fight will (Ime).

Cockerels challenge roosters. Unless I'm missing a lot, your rooster doesn't seem to be depressed or stressed, so this was likely a short minor scuffle. Blood can make things look worse than they are. Very likely they will scuffle or even have a royal battle at some point. Males can't always live together especially when hens are in the mix. A rooster is usually not going to give up or even share his hens willingly.

It's probably time to separate out the cockerel and decide if you want to keep him (or the rooster), if you want to make a separate flock for him, give away/sell/rehome or process.

 

[MamaWolf7]

Thank you to everyone for your replies! I brought Cuckoo (the rooster) into the laundry room and gave him a bath. With that much blood I was worried the others would peck at him more. There was a LOT of blood pooled around the base of his comb. The comb was still gushing pretty good. 10min of pressure got the bleeding to stop. I then blow dried him with the hair dryer for over half an hour to ensure he was completely dry. Finished off with some antibiotic ointment on the wound. The comb is looking really pale from loss of blood.

I live 100mi east of Alaska so it is full on winter here. At this time of year I am unable to keep any chickens separated as they need to cuddle on their perches to keep warm together. It is after lights out so I put Cockoo on his perch between his favorite hens and left a light on for a few minutes while everyone got a last minute drink and bedtime snack. Cuckoo jumped down and did his business with 2 of the hens. He is clearly not overly distressed from the whole ordeal. Maybe even feeling all prettied up and ready to get frisky! Lol.

I have 5 cockerels. The one I suspect inflicted the injuries I have been trying to rehome since August. He does not get along with the other males. A couple weeks ago I went to butcher him and another cockerel, but they did not have enough meat on their bones to make it worth while. All of the chickens are on a layer feed. Two of the cockerels are sweet boys and a pleasure to have around. The 5th cockerel is our favorite of the 5. He is stunningly beautiful and very perceptive of danger and quick to warn the hens (an essential quality living in the wilderness with lots of predators everywhere). A week ago he started pecking at my 5 year old kid who collects eggs, so if our efforts at taming him do not work he will very unfortunately have to go before he grows spurs.

Cuckoo is our old boy (at least 3 years old) with the sweetest personality. He doesn't mind when the kids chase him around the run. They adore him so I don't want to have to send him to freezer camp. He is a family favourite! I know I have too many cockerels and have been trying to bring down the numbers but have not had any luck with rehoming. I have ethical issues with slaughtering a healthy animal that will not be used for meat. Any other suggestions on what to do with the 2 boys I want rid of???

 

[Anime2lover]

Thank you to everyone for your replies! I brought Cuckoo (the rooster) into the laundry room and gave him a bath. With that much blood I was worried the others would peck at him more. There was a LOT of blood pooled around the base of his comb. The comb was still gushing pretty good. 10min of pressure got the bleeding to stop. I then blow dried him with the hair dryer for over half an hour to ensure he was completely dry. Finished off with some antibiotic ointment on the wound. The comb is looking really pale from loss of blood.

I live 100mi east of Alaska so it is full on winter here. At this time of year I am unable to keep any chickens separated as they need to cuddle on their perches to keep warm together. It is after lights out so I put Cockoo on his perch between his favorite hens and left a light on for a few minutes while everyone got a last minute drink and bedtime snack. Cuckoo jumped down and did his business with 2 of the hens. He is clearly not overly distressed from the whole ordeal. Maybe even feeling all prettied up and ready to get frisky! Lol.

I have 5 cockerels. The one I suspect inflicted the injuries I have been trying to rehome since August. He does not get along with the other males. A couple weeks ago I went to butcher him and another cockerel, but they did not have enough meat on their bones to make it worth while. All of the chickens are on a layer feed. Two of the cockerels are sweet boys and a pleasure to have around. The 5th cockerel is our favorite of the 5. He is stunningly beautiful and very perceptive of danger and quick to warn the hens (an essential quality living in the wilderness with lots of predators everywhere). A week ago he started pecking at my 5 year old kid who collects eggs, so if our efforts at taming him do not work he will very unfortunately have to go before he grows spurs.

Cuckoo is our old boy (at least 3 years old) with the sweetest personality. He doesn't mind when the kids chase him around the run. They adore him so I don't want to have to send him to freezer camp. He is a family favourite! I know I have too many cockerels and have been trying to bring down the numbers but have not had any luck with rehoming. I have ethical issues with slaughtering a healthy animal that will not be used for meat. Any other suggestions on what to do with the 2 boys I want rid of???

Maybe create a bachelor pen for the extras until you remote or freezer camp them. That way there are no hens for them to fight over.

 

[coach723]

If you don't have space to keep them separate until they are large enough for eating, then I would still send them to freezer camp. Even if too small for meat I use them for bone broth, so still not wasted. Sometimes the amount of time needed to nurse hurt birds from fighting just makes it not worth waiting if you can't separate them. Rehoming is often difficult or impossible, most people end up with too many boys all on their own. I try to leave mine until they are starting to show personality and temperament, and with some of them it's a very early decision. For me, there are just too many good boys out there to deal with the bad ones. I absolutely don't keep birds that go after people. Really the only other choices are to separate all the boys you don't want to keep with hens, or to deal with fights and the subsequent injuries.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If you don't have space to keep them separate until they are large enough for eating, then I would still send them to freezer camp. Even if too small for meat I use them for bone broth, so still not wasted.

I agree.
I try to grow out cockerels to size when possible, but sometimes they need to be dealt with fairly early. I just go ahead and process them, usually like I would Quail (Quail are small and tasty!) I skin them since it's quick work, let rest, then slow cook for broth and fall off the bone meat that can be added to soups, dumplings or whatever suits.

 

[Anime2lover]

I agree.
I try to grow out cockerels to size when possible, but sometimes they need to be dealt with fairly early. I just go ahead and process them, usually like I would Quail (Quail are small and tasty!) I skin them since it's quick work, let rest, then slow cook for broth and fall off the bone meat that can be added to soups, dumplings or whatever suits.

We use our small birds for soups, chicken pot pies, and in stuffing, as well as just random mixed meals.