Roosters injuring the flock - Graphic pics!!

[AlabamaChickenLady]

I have 16 pullets that are 25 weeks old and 2 roo's that are the same age. Most of the pullets have started laying now. I have noticed that the roo's are really harsh and sometimes cause damage to my pullets, and seem to gang up on them. Two days ago, I had to remove one of my White Leghorns because they bit and pulled on the back of her head so badly that they pulled the skin and feathers from the back of her head and it was bleeding badly. I brought her into the house and put her inside a cage so I could keep an eye on her. She recovered well.

About a week ago, I blended my younger pullets (11 weeks) in with the flock and everything seemed to be doing well. Until tonight.... My son brought me one of my 11 week old's, a Jersey Giant. She was bleeding badly and all of the feathers have been ripped out of her right side and part of the feathers on her right wing has been ripped out also.

I don't know what to do for her.... I've never seen anything like this!! Please advise me on how I need to care for her please.

This wound goes all the way up her side, under her wing. I couldn't get a better picture. It seemed to hurt her to pull the wing up for a pic.

This is a closer image of it. My poor baby!! Would flour or sugar help to stop the bleeding. I don't have any blue coat, but I'm headed into town in the morning to get supplies and anything that I may need.

The nasty roosters have been removed from the coop and run area. Could the pullets have done this?? My coop is very secure and so is the run area. We go out and check on them 4-6 times per day as well.

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

I would be eating some darn roosters if they did that to my girls. That aside, gently clean with warm water and gentle soap, apply Neosporin, and keep her quiet and alone, possibly inside the house in a cage or something until it scabs some. That is horrible and I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.

 

[buildingmyark]

x2 on eating some roosters. You may also want to use some kind of antibacterial solution to keep the wound clean.

 

[Desert Rooster]

Clean her wound with a 50/50 hydrogen peroxide water mixture, then put some regular neosporin on her wound

 

[Missouri Chicken Chick]

I agree as far as roosters for supper. Sometimes younger roosters will be a bit rough, but I've never seen anything like that.

As far as the wound, neosporin works wonders. I was worried about it being ingested, so I lightly applied a gauze bandage with tape around the edges on the feathers only, not the wound. It was very loose and didn't touch the area that was damaged and it stayed on just about 12 hours, but it was enough to give the wound time to heal a bit and still breathe.

This is only my opinion, but 11 weeks is way too young to be put in with mature roosters. Unfortunately, your picture is the result. Also, once the other chickens see ANY sign of blood, they will all gang up on the bird and peck away, sometimes until they kill them. If you could, it might be good to separate your younger birds from your mature ones, even if it's just a divider of some sort in your coop until they are a bit older.

 

[Missouri Chicken Chick]

In looking at the pictures again, are you sure a rooster did that? It looks more like a major scrape, which could have been caused by the bird trying to possibly escape bullying from the other birds and trying to hide underneath something, or possibly trying to get underneath a fence? I don't know, but to have it all on one side like that makes me curious about whether it's a rooster issue or possibly something else.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Those 11 week olds were to small to be intergrated with the big ones!!

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

Quote:
My fence is 1/2" X 1/2" Galvanized hard wire cloth and is buried 2 feet under the ground. There are no major obsticles in the run that she could have scraped against that could have done this kind of damage. My son found her under the coop (it's 3 feet off the gound) in a hole that they have dug out and dust bath in. The coop has some obsticles, but nothing major. I will go out in the morning to investigate further.

Thank you for all the suggestions on what I can do to help her. Should I do that tonight or wait untill the morning. She is in the house and in a small cage, but she is asleep at the moment. Should I wake her up to do the washing and apply the neosporin tonight? I did consider putting a saddle on her, but I was afraid that it would stick to her wound. What about the blue coat?? Should I still go buy some of that in the morning? Will that help her?

Thanks for all the responses. I was afraid that it was too soon to integrat them. But these are Jersey Giants and they are really big for thier age. They are about the same size now as my White Leghorns. But alas, it was tooo soon and I will be seperating them and seperating the coop in the coming days as well.

 

[spish]

dont be too quick to eat those roo's, im thinking she's cut herself on something (or received a good peck from one of the older birds) the rest have seen blood and have turned what could have been a tiny graze into what you see now by pecking at her. they only need to see a tiny bit of blood to peck at it!

put your roo's back in, they are young and still learning how to treat a lady...and take those 11 week olds out!

 

[Jferlisi]

Quote:
So what you have are two roosters who are learning there ways. I would keep them for a bit longer and see if they improve. Its not just the roosters fault you have to remember this. I was like you too when my roo started mating, but i was reminded by someone more experienced than me that the pullets are learning too. Sometimes the pullet wont submit to the roo and they force themselves on the pullet. That could have been how your leghorn got hurt. I would keep an eye out on them and see if they continue to hurt the hens when mating. Cockerels can be really bad in the fact that if they learn how to breed a specific way thats how they will be. There are those that are gentle with there ladies and those that just take what they think is theres. I had to rehome my SLW roo cause of that reason. Keep an eye on them and see how they mate, if they are forceful and mean about it of if its the hens that are trying to get away. If its the forceful and mean way you will know it and i would rehome them or eat them, i dont eat chicken so i rehome all mine. As for the 11 weeks old in my opinion they are fine. They are still trying to figure out there pecking order. mine where mixed in at 2 months to a group of 4 months and they did fine. To me it looks like she got hurt on something and they started pecking it. Chickens are cannibalistic in the sense that if they see blood or a open wound on another chicken they will peck it to death. Also how big is your coop and run? it should be big for that many hens. Hope this helps you out and sorry for the long winded essay.

John.