Roo fight

[dandydoodle]

I leave the chicken doors between the rooms in my coop slightly cracked so my barnyard kitties can move back and forth freely and do their job. I guess I left one of the doors open a little too much because, my beautiful little Splash roo squeezed through into the EE room. Well there are two roos over there that either one could kick his hiney. It was a two on one fight. I found him the next day hiding behind the nesting boxes.

He has a bloody comb and they picked his head bald. I guess with him hiding back there they could only reach the top of his head and pull his feathers out. Luckily he looks like he is gonna be okay. This is my question, do boys malt too? Will he ever get the feathers on the top of his head back or is he forever bald. Uggh, I feel so bad and he was so beautiful.

 

[Kevin565]

Yes the boys molt too and he will regrow those feathers eventually.

 

[1muttsfan]

Unless the skin was badly damaged, his feathers should grow back just fine. May take longer for his ego to recover, though.

 

[dandydoodle]

Yes he looked pretty upset when I got him out. He looked kind of stunned for about 5 minutes. Once he realized he was back with his girls he got better. He has a spot about the size of a small lemon that is completely bald. Not a single feather left there. Surprisingly there isn't a single mark on the skin. Seems like they could only reach his comb and the ends of the feathers for plucking. Thanks ya'll hopefully in time he will make a complete recovery. Thank goodness the malting season is right around the corner and he hasn't malted yet.

 

[jak2002003]

The feathers will grow back really quickly. You don't have to wait till he moults.

If a birds feathers are pulled out, then that stimulated new ones to start growing straight away. You will start to see the prickly pin feathers growing after a few days, and it will take a few weeks until they are back to normal.

All you need to do is make sure he has a good diet (which he probably already has) with protein to help the new feathers to come through strong and glossy.

He was lucky he found some place to hide or it could have been much worse!