Rooster fight, injuries.

[Desert_Fox]

Hi guys.
I have 7 Rhode Island Red hens, and 3 roosters, around 1 year old.
They all hatched together, they all lived together, until 3 months ago.

2 Roosters are big, one is smaller.
A about 3 months ago, the big two, started a fight, i did all i could to separate them, but it was not working, so i placed the one losing the fight, in a diferent coop with two hens for himself.

The other two got along, free ranging, no trouble, until saturday... when i arrived, i found only one (The big one) and the hens, after a search, i found the smaller one, in the middle of some bushes, he had some blood on his comb, and had a nail bleeding. The first thought that came to my mind was a rooster fight, but when i cleaned his wounds, and reintruduced him to the flock, the bigger one, did not attack him or anything, so i just assumed he hurt himself in the bushes. But even do, he was not being attacked he was hiding himself from the flock. i checked the CCTV footage, and found out, that all was good until the smaller one tryed to mate with one of the hens, the the bigger one attacked him, they fought for a few minutes, the the smaller one runned away and that was it.
I placed him in a separe coop, with one hen, he ate, he drinked, he was standing one his feet, only some scars, and one eye partially closed.

On Sunday, he was up, eating, drinking, hes partially closed eye, was red, but open. He was eating and drinking, he spend the entire day with the hen, and he was hurt, on his body and his pride, but doing ok.

Today, in the morning he was standing on his side. I picked him up, and he could not stand, One leg seems to work fine, but the other one he just keeps it streched in front of him, i gave him water he dranked it, eat a bit, but not much.
Is this normal two days after a fight, or may he have some kind of internal bleeding or something?
Thanks.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

No. This isn't common after a fight that seemed to be fairly mild. (And what you describe is typical rooster behavior when they hit sexual maturity and begin to vie for the girls).

It could be lingering from the fight. Perhaps neural brain injury/swelling after the fight.

I always hate that stance though, as it makes me wonder Marek's, which could have been lingering and then expressed when his immune system was stressed from the fight.

Hard to know.

I'm leaning to brain injury from the fight. Not sure what you can do. Hopefully someone will jump in. I know you can give highly diluted aspirin to chickens which might help with the swelling...but I'm not sure that would get to the brain.

Sorry to hear your boys are fighting...but again, that's normal behavior when they hit sexual maturity. You honestly have too many boys for 7 hens. You'll have to keep them separated as you've done permanently likely. Maybe add a few more hens. A nice ration is 1 rooster to 8 to 10 hens.

LofMc

 

[Desert_Fox]

Hi, thanks a lot for you anwser. This morning he's looking i would say a little bit better.
Still can walk of stand, but ive "traped" him between some boxes, so he doesnt hurt himself trying to walk, and he ate and drink voluntarely.

Do you any ideia what amount of aspirin i can give him?
Thanks

 

[Tonyroo]

Baby aspirin would be easy to give to a chicken since the pill is tiny and has a low dose.

Make sure he drinks water after giving it to him. The pill needs water to be dissolved. Use a syringe with water in it force some water in his mouth if he won't drink. Doesn't need to be a lot of water just some.

You can also dip the pill in a cup of water to get it wet then drop it down his mouth.