Roo with possible head injury?

[Kuntry Klucker]

Hi All,

It grieves me to even write this post, but we are in need of some help and support.

Last night hubby was tilling the garden when Roy our BO roo became aggressive and
picked a fight with hubby. First of all this is NOT typical of Roy he is usually very
patient and tolerant of us around him. We think he had a problem with the new
tiller that hubby was using.

Anyway, hubby had to defend him self and kicked Roy pretty hard. He tumbled and rolled
an few feet and came to a stop where he appeared to be dazed with almost a dizzy kind of
response to the blow. He then stumbled back to the chicken yard and just sat on the perch
for a little while. He then made his way to the coop and went to bed early.

There was a small amount of blood coming from where his ear is and a little from his mouth.

We feel just terriable, it just pains us to think that we injured our rooster.

Our question is, what kind of blows to the head area can a roo take and recover?

We had no intentions of hurting him but as the battle insued hubby had to get Roy to back
off. The kids were in the yard as well so we could not let Roy continue on with his aggressive rampage.

Today he does not really want to eat or drink, he is crowing very little and does not appear to have
any interest in the girls either. He keeps doing a yawning motion like he is adjusting his crop or something.

There are no visible wounds, he is walking around the yard and seems to have some wits about him.

Any help with diagnosing his injury would be of help and further speculation on if he will recover would
be comforting.

We hate that his happened, we love our Roo and cringe at the thought that we might have hurt him.

Thanks,
Roy and family

 

[BunkyB]

Roosters are pretty versatile at bouncing back from injuries to the head as it is a common spot for them to be injured when fighting with other roos. Give him a couple of days to recoup and make sure the hens don't peck at his head if there is visible blood. I guess it must have been a good head shot by the hubbies boot... Don't worry too much. He should get back to his old self in a few days.

If the injury was severe enough he would not be crowing or roosting so that is a good sign. He just has to lose his fuzziness and have some quiet time to himself. I would say 4-5 days. If things don't improve then there may be more to it. Try not to feel too guilty but booting a rooster has its downfalls. It was probably a quick reaction for the hubby to avoid injuring the roo with the tiller. May be good to lock the roo up when tilling... Steve

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Roosters are pretty versatile at bouncing back from injuries to the head as it is a common spot for them to be injured when fighting with other roos. Give him a couple of days to recoup and make sure the hens don't peck at his head if there is visible blood. I guess it must have been a good head shot by the hubbies boot... Don't worry too much. He should get back to his old self in a few days.

If the injury was severe enough he would not be crowing or roosting so that is a good sign. He just has to lose his fuzziness and have some quiet time to himself. I would say 4-5 days. If things don't improve then there may be more to it. Try not to feel too guilty but booting a rooster has its downfalls. It was probably a quick reaction for the hubby to avoid injuring the roo with the tiller. May be good to lock the roo up when tilling... Steve

Thanks so much for your post. I never thought about Roy crowing and roosting and a good sign, thanks that provides some comfort.

It was quick reaction for hubby to boot Roy, if the tiller was what he was set off by the injury he would have received from
the tiller would have been no doubt life threatening. We do plan to put the girls up when tilling for now on.
Usually they love when hubby tills the garden, they like to get all the worm that have been brought
to the surface.

Thanks again.

 

[BunkyB]

Not a problem. These forums are awesome when it comes down to unique issues with the birds. There is so much help here there are not too many situations that can't be handled with all the experience among the peeps.

And yes, my hens go ballistic for the worms as well. I have started my garden here and the hens think they are quite helpful. At least they are turning the soil over for me...lol They will be miffed after my yearly fence goes up tho. I know they can do some good damage to a garden. I learned that lesson years ago. Steve

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Not a problem. These forums are awesome when it comes down to unique issues with the birds. There is so much help here there are not too many situations that can't be handled with all the experience among the peeps.

And yes, my hens go ballistic for the worms as well. I have started my garden here and the hens think they are quite helpful. At least they are turning the soil over for me...lol They will be miffed after my yearly fence goes up tho. I know they can do some good damage to a garden. I learned that lesson years ago. Steve

LOL!! here too, the girls get a little restless when they see their fence go up as well. They love the tilling but
as you said that can do a lot of damage to a newly planted garden. I let the out into the gardens again after
the plants of reached a size where they can withstand a flock of chickens scratching around them. They do
a good job at keeping the bugs down in my gardens during the summers.