Rooster bleeding heavily from injured comb -- bleedding won't stop!

chickenladyk

In the Brooder
12 Years
Mar 11, 2007
20
2
22
We have a wonderful 4-year old Single Comb Brown Leghorn Rooster, "Walker", who's the love of our lives. He has injured his comb, sparring with another one of our best roosters, "Chanticleer". We have a flock of 20 hens who day range on a large pasture. Most of the time, everyone gets along. But of course, it's spring right now, so hormones are up and the roosters are sparring.

Chanticleer has taken a chunk out of the back of Walker's comb. It is bleeding heavily and just will not stop. We have tried styptic pencils, ice, pressure, sugar, flour, cayenne, and a few other stop-the-bleeding home remedies that we've found on the internet. Nothing seems to be working. The bleeding may slow, but then Walker shakes his head, and it starts all over again.

PLEASE HELP! Thank you!!!
Karlen
 
Sounds like you tried conventional and some unconventional ideas. I feel silly for saying this. BUT, just last week I sliced my hand and thumb really bad on glass. I probably needed stitches, couldn't get it to quit bleeding, it would stop until I took the washcloth away. I tried to get it quit bleeding for about an hour. Anyways, I put super glue on it. It actually worked. Is it something you could use on your guy? Its sounds weird...but it worked. I just cleaned the area off, soaked up the blood real quick and applied it. Dried pretty quick, and it just wore off eventually. I was doing dishes and everything the same day. Hope you don't think I am crazy. Good luck. It was the only thing I could think of, that you hadn't tried.
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I had this problem when a Game roo I used to have, stuck his head into the same area I had my big EE roo. Bled bad for a while, but I just help him and put pressure until it stopped and then he would shake and it would start.

Your going ot need to keep him away from the others for a while. I think it took 2 weeks before his comb was better. I'd wipe it off daily and smear Neo all over it. It would bleed again, but I'd clean if off again and start over.

With Games the comb is usually dubbed, but his wasn't. When they dub them, they simply cut the comb down and then leave them to heal.

Just keep him away from the other birds, like I mentioned, so they don't attack and peck hiim to death.
 
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Super glue is even used by doctors, so it's not crazy.

Thing is, the wound will still bring attention to his injury and the others will keep ripping at it, so whatever you do, keep him isolated.
 
Keep him in a dark room so he will go to sleep. Maybe in a bathroom that has no windows. If it's really dark he'll settle down & not move so much. I agree with Wolftracks, keep him quiet & separated until he's healed. Have you tried flour on the wound?

I love the Single Comb Brown Leghorn roosters, they're so classic-looking. I had one named Stetson who was a real dandy. I hope Walker gets well soon.
 
Thanks SO very much to ALL of you for your suggestions! What finally worked was pressure -- for about 10-15 minutes.

We took your advice and are isolating him in our "hospital" pen.

For those of you who might be interested: Our "hospital" pen is one of those plastic travel crates for large dogs. We have it in a quiet, darkened room, covered in a dark blanket (but with some open areas, for air flow). Inside are towels, a 4 x 4 "roost" that just lies on the towels. And the towels are set over a heating pad, so if the chicken wants/needs extra warmth, they can lie on the warm towels.

We have had wonderful luck with this little "hospital" in the past. It seems that isolation, darkness, warmth and rest provides the ideal healing environment, and we've saved chickens that we were certain were "goners". We don't have 100% success, of course -- once in awhile, we don't notice the chicken isn't feeling well until it's too far gone. That said, we've found that chickens have remarkable abilities to heal or recover.

We do provide water at all times, and we let the chickens out for food every few hours, except at night. The chickens seem to let us know when they're ready to return to the flock. Normally, they think they are ready before we think they are, however.

* * *
Now I'm wondering how to reintroduce Walker, once he's healed, which will be a few days. Chanticleer will have assumed the role of "top cock", in Walker's absence, and we all know how roosters are -- Chanticleer isn't going to give up his new role without a fight. The problem is that Chanticleer is much, much smaller than Walker. He makes up for it in speed, agility and "street smarts", so he and Walker can really go at it. Chanticleer is 12 years old, but he's very spry and fit. He was "top cock" until last year, when Walker finally won out.

We don't want a repeat, so I wonder what we might do to avoid it. Perhaps remove Chanticleer from the flock for a few days while Walker reestablishes himself as top cock? You all have such great ideas, do you have one for me in this situation?

Thanks again!
Karlen
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned yet already or not, but I have dubbed many OEGB and have never lost a single one. After the comb is snipped off with scissors I run the chicken's comb area under very cold water for about 30 seconds. Quick clot is a coagulant powder available in most feed stores, flour can work too. I have adopted roosters with spurs grown into their legs which I have had to literally saw off and this stuff works like a charm. Don't be too worried - he will be fine! It's fantastic that you stopped the bleeding with pressure but I highly recommend keeping a coagulating powder on hand in your chickie first aid kit for all of the just-in-cases. Just keep him away from the rest of the flock in your hospital pen until it scabs over and begins to heal. If you're worried about Chanticleer's dominant status, go ahead and put him in a time out pen for a day when you are ready to release Walker and let him resume his status with the hens. This should at least help - hopefully! If you want to be extra mean give Chanticleer a bath (if the weather is nice enough) before you reintroduce him to Walker. Should slow him down a bit.
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