- Sep 9, 2011
- 104
- 1
- 89
We live in an area where people sometimes don't take personal responsibility for their dogs and our flock was attacked by two dogs this past Thursday. We lost four chickens ( one rooster, three hens ) and one rooster was injured.
The rooster is about 9 months old, is a large fowl dark cornish/buffie cross. He did not roost the evening of the attack, he just stood in the corner of his coop, on the ground. This is where I found him right after the attack and where he stayed for about 18 hours. Every evening after that, he's roosted on the lower bar, about 2' off the ground, so improvement. He also was wheezing the day after the attack, but has since stopped, more improvement.
He comes out of the coop every day now with his ladies, he does drink water. My husband says he's seen him peck around for food, I've only seen him do it a small amount. He seems better in some ways, but the same in others. His tail feathers hang down a lot and are dull, but he will bring them up if I approach, his comb had flopped over, but it seems to be perking back up to more normal looking. Overall, his behavior has changed, he's by himself more. He's usually standing or walking slowly around. I do know he has an injured wing. His stool appears normal. He seems to keep to himself sometimes, he's not social anymore. I do know to watch for standing alone without moving for long periods of time and also being puffed up, but he hasn't done that. The other chickens aren't pecking at him or trying to harm him at all.
I just need a little help determining the difference between discomfort associated with a healing injury or an injury that will take his life and is causing him great suffering. So, in a nutshell : injured wing for sure, eating(not as much as he normally would ), drinking, pooping fine, withdrawn, by himself more. Goes into the coop every night, eager to come out in the morning. Have you been in this predicament? What did you do? I told my husband I'm going to give him until tomorrow.
The rooster is about 9 months old, is a large fowl dark cornish/buffie cross. He did not roost the evening of the attack, he just stood in the corner of his coop, on the ground. This is where I found him right after the attack and where he stayed for about 18 hours. Every evening after that, he's roosted on the lower bar, about 2' off the ground, so improvement. He also was wheezing the day after the attack, but has since stopped, more improvement.
He comes out of the coop every day now with his ladies, he does drink water. My husband says he's seen him peck around for food, I've only seen him do it a small amount. He seems better in some ways, but the same in others. His tail feathers hang down a lot and are dull, but he will bring them up if I approach, his comb had flopped over, but it seems to be perking back up to more normal looking. Overall, his behavior has changed, he's by himself more. He's usually standing or walking slowly around. I do know he has an injured wing. His stool appears normal. He seems to keep to himself sometimes, he's not social anymore. I do know to watch for standing alone without moving for long periods of time and also being puffed up, but he hasn't done that. The other chickens aren't pecking at him or trying to harm him at all.
I just need a little help determining the difference between discomfort associated with a healing injury or an injury that will take his life and is causing him great suffering. So, in a nutshell : injured wing for sure, eating(not as much as he normally would ), drinking, pooping fine, withdrawn, by himself more. Goes into the coop every night, eager to come out in the morning. Have you been in this predicament? What did you do? I told my husband I'm going to give him until tomorrow.
