Rooster Attacked, Tail/Back Feathers All Missing, Head Hanging Low

[The Dim Side]

Hello! Yesterday was a bad day, as I was taking the ducklings to the vet a couple hours away, my rooster was attacked, and a hen was taken. We can see where the fight happened with the feathers taken out in different spots. It looks as if the predator was trying to pull him away and plucked out all his back feathers. I tried cleaning up the injury a bit. He's very raw back there (as if someone was plucking him to eat) with a little bit of bleeding. I sprayed Veterycin, and he was still walking around with his head up.

But this morning, his head is hanging low as if he can't lift it up now. And he can stand but isn't walking around. I'm not sure if there was any neck injury, or if it's the pain/other injuries that are just making him feel sore and worse after the adrenaline settled. Is there anything that we can do to help him? He's not eating or drinking either, so I assume I'll have to try giving him some water into his mouth with a liquid syringe? We brought him inside and put him in a dog crate to let him rest alone from the hens. He wasn't sitting earlier, but now he's down on the floor with his head down on the floor, too. Again, he can still stand, but his head just hangs down.

I can't tell if there was enough damage done that he's just dying slowly or if this is his trying to recover. It's hard to tell exactly what all is happening on his backside, but outside of the plucked feathers, it doesn't seem like there's other damage, but I don't know for sure.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[-Isla June-]

I’m so sorry! I am not well educated on this, but here are some members that can hopefully help! @Kiki @TheOddOneOut @nuthatched

 

[nuthatched]

I'm sorry about your birds. Is his head hanging loose? Sometimes trauma can bring on wry neck, so it could be that.
Sugar water with vitamin E, (400i.u) maybe even a little egg yolk, would probably help him. but if he's had a hard drinking you might need to help him hold his neck right, which is tricky since you don't want to choke him.

 

[The Dim Side]

I'm sorry about your birds. Is his head hanging loose? Sometimes trauma can bring on wry neck, so it could be that.
Sugar water with vitamin E, (400i.u) maybe even a little egg yolk, would probably help him. but if he's had a hard drinking you might need to help him hold his neck right, which is tricky since you don't want to choke him.

Thank you for the advice! Yeah, it looks like his head is hanging loose, I think. Where can I get straight vitamin E, do they have packets for it at like TSC or Rural King?

Here are a few pictures:

 

[nuthatched]

Thank you for the advice! Yeah, it looks like his head is hanging loose, I think. Where can I get straight vitamin E, do they have packets for it at like TSC or Rural King?

Here are a few pictures:

View attachment 3141999View attachment 3142000View attachment 3142001

At the grocery store in the vitamin section, has to be 400 i.u (that's the strength) they're typically a capsule.

 

[The Dim Side]

At the grocery store in the vitamin section, has to be 400 i.u (that's the strength) they're typically a capsule.

Unfortunately, at the couple different stores around, they only have them in soft gel form for some reason. Is there a way to get those to work? Edit: Even a quick glance online, I only see soft gels, too, lol.

 

[nuthatched]

Unfortunately, at the couple different stores around, they only have them in soft gel form for some reason. Is there a way to get those to work? Edit: Even a quick glance online, I only see soft gels, too, lol.

Yes, sorry I meant soft gell capsules, you squeeze the gell out.

 

[The Dim Side]

He's still alive, but he's mostly just sleeping. Does that seem fairly normal? I try to give him some sugar water/vitamin E when he's awake enough. I use a liquid syringe to put it into his beak, and seems like he swallows. (I'm afraid to shoot it down his throat in fear of it going down the wrong pipe or if he's unable to swallow properly since his neck still hangs pretty low.) I think he can hold his head up a little higher than yesterday, but still not all the way back. And he still mostly just lies on the floor, sleeping. I'm worried about him getting too dehydrated though, so I'm not sure how much water and egg yolk to try to feed him a day.

 

[Shadrach]

Provided he doesn't have any internal injuries, which you can't do anything about anyway he should be fine.
You can give him half a junior asprin morning and night for the pain.
Better still is a drug called Metacam if you can get it.
I can't see any cuts in your pictures but give him a very thorough check over.
Buy some Chlorhexedine spray from the chemist and spray all the exposed flesh and leave it to soak in.
Keep the rear end clean if you can.
Feed him some fish; tinned haddock with the oil or water drained, white fish that has been baked, a small amount of lean meat and a multi vitamin supplement if you can find one.
This one, his name is Cillin got attacked by what I think was a large weasel. He needed a couple of stiches in his arse but other wise he pulled through. As you can see he was very depressed and that lasted a couple of days.

 

[The Dim Side]

Thank you for the advice! Unfortunately, he's not at the point where he can eat or drink on his own still. I'll look into feeding him fish and such once he's able and willing to eat. Still mostly trying to make sure he's drinking at least some water, lol. But he does seem to be better today! He's standing upright and is awake! But I think he's still pretty sore judging by how little he moves, even tilting his head down and back up seems troublesome.

I'm sorry that Cillin was also attacked, but it's actually a little reassuring to me to see another rooster go through a very similar attack and recover! Is it common for roosters to lose their tail feathers like this when attacked/fighting?

Edit: Also, there didn't seem to be baby aspirin around. The lowest dose we could find was low-dose adult aspirin 81 mg. Would that be okay to give some of?