Rooster attacked by hens, and possible frostbite

[Chicken Heel]

Your situation sounds similar to what my flock of hens did to one of my Turken hens last fall. It was during the molt for the Turken and she was very sparsely feathered with some new feathers just beginning to show. One day, while I was at work, they did a number her and when I got home she hardly had any feathers left on her and was bleeding from the tail. I quarantined her and she slowly got back to health and fully feathered out before winter set in. I have never put her back in with those other hens but do have her with 2 Golden Comets hens that I took in as strays last spring. I had never had any of my previous flocks exhibit anything near to this degree of pecking, even during molt. But the Turken was the lowest on the pecking order so that may have been a factor. I consider it good fortune that she wasn't eaten.

ETA: I do think another potential culprit(s) in my situation is related to the Austra White hens (4 at the time and now 3) that I have in my flock. They are a bit feisty and have the crazy White Leghorn genes and they do have an edge to them. The craziest rooster I ever had was an adorable White Leghorn Easter chick 50 years ago that was possessed by Satan himself as an adult.

 

[Kris5902]

Wow, thanks for all the support and feedback!

Almost looks like a bumble. What part of the bird is it on?

It was his tail. Every single large tail feather was plucked and broken off!

Wow! That’s really shocking to me! They were newly introduced? Sounds traumatizing!!!

The 17 week old pullets were separated from their brothers at 15 weeks, and I split 10 1 year olds among 3 of my boys, along with two older chickens I liberated from the farm. This boy received 5 1 year olds, two of whom had blood on their beaks, everyone else was clean.

The hens that ate him were 3 barred rocks, & a Rhode Island Red. He was introduced to the ladies, & was fine for a couple days, until we noticed him cowarding in a corner like he had a rough night. It wasn't til the day after that we noticed his tail feathers were all plucked, his bottom was bleeding pretty bad, & we had to go that day, & planned to put him down the next day. It was to late by then, the hens got to him.

This is almost exactly what has happened to me, except I noticed it sooner and want to keep this boy badly enough for breeding to bring him into my limited living space, DH willing or not! My Cats are taking it quite well.

The poor boy,

Do you have a hot water bottle or wheat pack you could wrap in a tea towel and put in with him Kris?

Excellent idea! I don’t have one but just put it on the bring home list for DH, he’s in town... the box will have to do for now, because another crate isn’t in the budget this week, but I’m going to be on the lookout for a taller and smaller crate for the future.

This happens because people continue to breed the most docile roosters that are total weenies.

Freezer camp for the hens!

Sorry, no can do! They are my only blue egg layers, and with only 10 proven hens laying I need to keep them all, I’m breeding up my flock, and have actually had to borrow 13 hens to keep all my breeding Roosters satisfied.

And he was king of the cockerel pen. Not a weenie at all. He’s big, bold, attentive to the ladies without being rough, and the first couple days went beautifully. He was top of the pecking order over an even larger Barnvelder, and one smaller Barnvelder boy. Speaking of whom the smaller Barnvelder boy is in with the old “mean” Barred Rock and hyline, two unrelated but the same age (1) Barnvelder ladies, and another cluster of 17 week olds. For the bottom (figuratively and literally speaking) of the cockerel pen he hasn’t had any incidents (and he was the flighty hide in the coop, please don’t jump on me kind of guy)

Although not friendly, at least I can handle this boy “Mr Eyebrows”, without gloves. I have Two boys that are far less “docile” and want to take my face off every morning, though I’ve noticed this has significantly declined in one who is also molting fairly heavily, and is the father of most of my 17week olds (a large ameraucana Marans cross)

 

[Kris5902]

He made it through the night ok, and has perked up a lot with the feeding and warmth. He’s still not trying to move around which is both a little worrisome and a positive because I have no good way to contain him in here (though my laundry basket is looking like the best potential temporary crate for when he decides he’s ambulatory again). His comb color is returning.

@Eggcessive you may be interested in my mother’s theory on this. When she had an issue with restricted blood flow in a leg two years ago requiring emergency vascular surgery and almost lost her toes because of it, they were turning black, like my boys comb did! Is it possible that he lost so much blood that his extremities were being deprived to preserve more essential functions?

He’s definitely not out of the woods, and I expect I may have a house chicken for quite some time. But he did treat me to two small crows this morning I think the main reason they were able to treat him so poorly was the molting (I thought he was mostly through it, and I don’t handle my roosters too often, I’ve found a more hands off approach seems to limit human agressive jerk behavior) and suddenly going from the top boy in the cockerel pen to having all these strange females around

 

[MysteryChicken]

He made it through the night ok, and has perked up a lot with the feeding and warmth. He’s still not trying to move around which is both a little worrisome and a positive because I have no good way to contain him in here (though my laundry basket is looking like the best potential temporary crate for when he decides he’s ambulatory again). His comb color is returning.
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@Eggcessive you may be interested in my mother’s theory on this. When she had an issue with restricted blood flow in a leg two years ago requiring emergency vascular surgery and almost lost her toes because of it, they were turning black, like my boys comb did! Is it possible that he lost so much blood that his extremities were being deprived to preserve more essential functions?

View attachment 1931816 View attachment 1931818

He’s definitely not out of the woods, and I expect I may have a house chicken for quite some time. But he did treat me to two small crows this morning I think the main reason they were able to treat him so poorly was the molting (I thought he was mostly through it, and I don’t handle my roosters too often, I’ve found a more hands off approach seems to limit human agressive jerk behavior) and suddenly going from the top boy in the cockerel pen to having all these strange females around

I always handle my roosters to prevent human aggression. It also makes it easier to get a hold of them without much of a problem, or run around.

 

[Eggcessive]

Wow, that is a big improvement in his comb color. Glad to hear that he is improving. I think you are right about his molting being the problem. Then being with hens suddenly after being apart from then really created a problem. They can really drive you crazy when they don’t get along.

 

[Kris5902]

I always handle my roosters to prevent human aggression. It also makes it easier to get a hold of them without much of a problem, or run around.

I can get a hold of almost all my 6 roosters without any issues, they aren’t hand shy or flighty (with the one exception of the high strung bottom Barnvelder, and I’m still working on my relationship with my newest addition, a 5month old meat boy from another farm) but my most successful boys are the ones I didn’t handle as much as chicks and young cockerels. It could be a coincidence that those two turned out to be jerks. I can and do still handle them, as needed (with long sleeves and gloves in the one case; he was such a friendly cuddly chick too!)

Every morning that one boy who was once so friendly now tries to drive me out of his pen, and will flog and bite if given half a chance... we are slowly working things out though (I hope) and of his male offspring, only 3 out of 13 seemed to inherit an attitude problem, so I’m leaning towards nurture over nature for the most part there.

What I mean by a more hands off approach is I limit my interactions with them, I’m not picking them up every few days and looking at their feather development. I don’t encourage them to approach me for treats or pets. And I ignore any attempts to tidbit towards me or treat me like a hen. I also try not to interfere in their relationships with their hens. Too much, I do draw the line at these murderous ladies! I’m looking to free range in the future and like the roosters to be independent and attentive to the hens. Also, with the one exception of my jerk Rooster, I can go into any of my breeding pens and handle the ladies without upsetting my Roosters too much. They watch me, but let me do what I need to.

Interestingly, one of my “good” roosters hates and wants to murder one particular child. He’s ok with everyone else including several other children, it’s just the one girl. When she gets within 15 feet of his pen or he hears her voice he goes crazy defensive throwing himself against the hardware cloth and running back and forth after herding all his ladies in the coop or far corner of the pen. I think there may have been some brooder trauma from her when he was a chick. I now brood elsewhere where I can control the interactions and children aren’t allowed to free range and grab animals as they please without supervision.

 

[Kris5902]

Your situation sounds similar to what my flock of hens did to one of my Turken hens last fall. It was during the molt for the Turken and she was very sparsely feathered with some new feathers just beginning to show. One day, while I was at work, they did a number her and when I got home she hardly had any feathers left on her and was bleeding from the tail. I quarantined her and she slowly got back to health and fully feathered out before winter set in. I have never put her back in with those other hens but do have her with 2 Golden Comets hens that I took in as strays last spring. I had never had any of my previous flocks exhibit anything near to this degree of pecking, even during molt. But the Turken was the lowest on the pecking order so that may have been a factor. I consider it good fortune that she wasn't eaten.

ETA: I do think another potential culprit(s) in my situation is related to the Austra White hens (4 at the time and now 3) that I have in my flock. They are a bit feisty and have the crazy White Leghorn genes and they do have an edge to them. The craziest rooster I ever had was an adorable White Leghorn Easter chick 50 years ago that was possessed by Satan himself as an adult.

To comment on your edit... the bloody beaked “sapphires” are al CCLxLH, so they may also have some “crazy” white leghorn genes in there too. I didn’t call their brothers (now in freezer camp and quite tasty) the “little white devils” for nothing. Their sole remaining brother, kept mostly for his entertaining personality quirks and being somewhat less vicious than his siblings, has been known to attack and chase my cattle. I still love him, even if he is a borderline jerk to people now.