Rooster trouble

[almostnadine]

I wasn't sure where to post this so started a new thread. I have a 2-3 yr old rooster, Buddy, who is semi people aggressive. After my boyfriend got got by his spur again he decided it was time to remove them. We used the hot potato method and they popped off easily with very little bleeding. We used blood stop powder and then sprayed with this liquid bandage spray, Purishield by Farnam. Haven't noticed any issues with the spurs; no swelling, he's walking fine and eating and drinking. But his behavior has changed quite a bit; he is much more subdued both towards us and the other chickens. Now after almost a week one of our other roosters has been ruthlessly attacking him, like won't leave him alone. This has made Buddy even more subdued; I haven't even seen him try to get a hen and we have several young cockerels and when one of them goes after the hens he just runs over and stands there where before he would try to stop them. This morning I tried letting the attacking rooster out to see how it would go and he immediately started attacking him again so I put him back in a cage and then gave Buddy a good once over and in his mouth found what looks like wet fowl pox. He isn't showing any other symptoms and was perfectly fine before the spur removal and mostly after until the other rooster started attacking him. This is the third day of fighting (only the first day had any real fighting before I was able to separate them 2nd and 3rd just the start then immediate separation) the first day I did notice some blood in Buddy's mouth but no sores, 2nd day no blood in mouth but didn't thoroughly check it. Overall other than his comb being scabbed up no major damage from the fighting. The stuff in his mouth is along the edges of his bottom beak and is that white stuff you see in fowl pox. Can this be caused by injury? I will try to get pictures when my boyfriend gets home. Right now I took the attacker (he isn't being aggressive towards anyone else) out of the cage and put Buddy in with his own food and water but where he is still around the flock. I have a bunch of oxytet from when we had a fowl pox outbreak awhile ago (Buddy never showed any symptoms during that outbreak so I don't know if he got it or not). I also have some doxycycline and clavicillian. Not sure if I should give him anything or just wait and see. Also any suggestions on how to stop the other rooster from attacking him would be great. Thank you

 

[BlueBaby]

It look's like by removing his spur's he is now down at the bottom of the rooster's pecking order, and the attacker has now taken over the breeding right's.

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

Maybe you should trim his spurs instead of taking them off

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I put him back in a cage and then gave Buddy a good once over and in his mouth found what looks like wet fowl pox.

The stuff in his mouth is along the edges of his bottom beak and is that white stuff you see in fowl pox.

Please, get clear well-lit photos of the inside of his beak, his face, his foot/spurs and how he stands.

Is there a foul odor to the material inside his beak or about his head?

Is he able to eat/drink on his own with the material inside his beak or is he just going through the motions?

Looking forward to the photos and more info.
Thanks!

 

[almostnadine]

Here are some pictures of his head, mouth, and feet. I feel food in his crop so am pretty sure he's been eating, though not as much while he's in a cage. His breathing seems good and I don't see any external fowl pox looking sores. We've been cleaning his comb and putting silver honey ointment on it. His spurs also seem to look ok and already have a hard outer covering and don't seem sensitive. Also his breath while not smelling good does not smell exceptionally bad.
Do you think if we took the spurs off the other rooster it might even things out between them? I really don't want to have to keep one of them locked up forever. I definitely agree he has been knocked to the bottom of the pecking order, it's just weird the other rooster just seems to only want to fight with him; he doesn't attack when Buddy goes after a hen he just attacks. This morning when I let him out to see how it would go he immediately made a beeline for Buddy and started attacking, it's like he wants him dead or gone.

 

[almostnadine]

Also while taking pictures and examining him found three or 4 small white to clearish bugs in the feathers around his head. I just sprayed him with some permethrin spray all over. I didn't see any elsewhere on him but these were very small, like 1-2mm in length - couldn't get a photo, I am not sure what these are I looked up mites and lice and don't see any signs that he's had them for long. I also put some permethrin dust around where the flock has been dusting lately and in there coop. I was thinking to maybe give the flock a spraying tonight when they go in and clean the coop in a couple of days - it's going to rain tomorrow so should be able to on Monday. I also checked a couple of the other birds but don't see anything. The only bugs we've had before have been sticktight fleas - little black/brown shiny bugs on the exposed skin of their faces.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The other rooster does very likely want him gone.
Do you need this rooster with the injuries and gunk inside the beak?

I think I would get some Acidified Copper Sulfate and treat his drinking water.
Give 1/4 teaspoon ACS per 1 gallon of drinking water. Don't put the mixed water in a metal drinker and don't stir with metal. See if that clears up the sores in his beak.
https://jedds.com/products/acidified-copper-sulfate-animal-science

Hard to say what else may be going on with him. Sounds like you found lice, the Permethrin should take care of them if you stay on top of treating him in 5–7-day intervals.

 

[almostnadine]

I will try the ACS, thank you. The gunk in his beak doesn't appear to be getting worse at least but I would rather be on the safe side. Can birds other than pigeons spread canker? I've never seen any pigeons on our property but we do get lots of other small birds, though they mostly stay on another part of our property and we have a peahen that lives on our property and hangs out with the chickens during the day (she showed up shortly after we put our first chickens outside).
I checked him this morning and don't see any more little bugs so hopefully they are dying, I will spray again in 5 days to make sure if any new ones hatched. I only found them on his head but still made sure to spray everywhere.
As to whether we need him or not, really probably not; we have an abundance of roosters right now after hatching some eggs (we got 7/21 roosters). But he has been a good rooster who has proven himself against a predator, only recently fully growing his tail back, and he has been good in the past with keeping the younger ones in line. He does semi regularly like to kick us though, but he's my favorite little a**hole. I didn't think we should have taken off his spurs; he wasn't hurting the hens with them and we know there are predators in our area. I don't think my boyfriend thought it would have quite the affect that it has though.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I will try the ACS, thank you. The gunk in his beak doesn't appear to be getting worse at least but I would rather be on the safe side. Can birds other than pigeons spread canker? I've never seen any pigeons on our property but we do get lots of other small birds, though they mostly stay on another part of our property and we have a peahen that lives on our property and hangs out with the chickens during the day (she showed up shortly after we put our first chickens outside).
I checked him this morning and don't see any more little bugs so hopefully they are dying, I will spray again in 5 days to make sure if any new ones hatched. I only found them on his head but still made sure to spray everywhere.
As to whether we need him or not, really probably not; we have an abundance of roosters right now after hatching some eggs (we got 7/21 roosters). But he has been a good rooster who has proven himself against a predator, only recently fully growing his tail back, and he has been good in the past with keeping the younger ones in line. He does semi regularly like to kick us though, but he's my favorite little a**hole. I didn't think we should have taken off his spurs; he wasn't hurting the hens with them and we know there are predators in our area. I don't think my boyfriend thought it would have quite the affect that it has though.

Yes, Canker can be spread through shared water/food stations, so you may want to check your other birds.
If you think the others might have been exposed, it may be a good idea to provide ACS for the flocks water for 3 days each month for several months.

I'm glad you didn't see any more bugs, but getting them under control can sometimes be a challenge, so the follow up dusting/spraying will help.

Sometimes spurs do need to be trimmed or filed, this is a common practice. I've never used the potato method, I just trim off them off with a dremel/cut off wheel. You can also use a small hacksaw, they actually are sold as spur saws, but you have to take care the spur doesn't split when manually cutting them. If you find that spurs need trimming in the future you may want to explore other options.