I think something with teeth made a move on my Muscovy drake Ivan and my turkey Tom today. Ivan had bloody caruncles and Tom has fairly deep wounds with cartilage or some kind of hard white bubbles exposed at the base of each of his wings as well as a balding chest below his beard and what looked like a shallow scabbed over puncture. My BF thinks they fought and wounded each other: they're both big and Ivan has a sharp bill and they both love me. They are usually separated by a welded wire fence, and even though each could get over it and have been in proximity, they have never shown an iota of interest in one another.
All my chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks (with the exception of the Mandies) go out in my yard fenced with 3 ft welded wire during the day. The can go into the covered shaded pens at any time and even into the chicken coop door. The 3 Muscovies free range in the unfenced back yard since they can fly and are generally better behaved.
My neighbor saw Ivan coming into the other side but though it was general duck drama-nothing special, no goose hysteria that usually would accompany anything unusual. My BF heard nothing. I was gone all until about 8 pm.
I see where Ivan's face could get messed up in any number of skirmishes (I initially blamed a rooster Ivan tends to pick on). Ivan is a mama's boy- I never knew if he would defend anyone or not. But jeesh, what could put symetrical deep puncture wounds in a full grown Bourbon Red Tom's wings on the sides of his chest? Nothing ever rattles that bird: He's super friendly, goes where the people are and ignores the turkey hens when they attack the roosters. Although he's the last in the coop at night, I would have expected him to strut not defend in the face of adversity.
I rinsed off both birds wounds with lots of warm water-neither was actively bleeding when I saw them. I put bacitracin on Tom's wounds. All birds were acting normal, though the geese seemed like they had something they wanted to tell me. I'm beside myself now because there are too many birds (all beloved pets, many rescues) to leave in their Fort Knox pens all day and I can't afford better fencing than the 3 foot tall welded wire fence I have now.
Any thoughts? Dog? Fox? Infighting? Anything more I can do medically besides keep on eye on them? Anything?
All my chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks (with the exception of the Mandies) go out in my yard fenced with 3 ft welded wire during the day. The can go into the covered shaded pens at any time and even into the chicken coop door. The 3 Muscovies free range in the unfenced back yard since they can fly and are generally better behaved.
My neighbor saw Ivan coming into the other side but though it was general duck drama-nothing special, no goose hysteria that usually would accompany anything unusual. My BF heard nothing. I was gone all until about 8 pm.
I see where Ivan's face could get messed up in any number of skirmishes (I initially blamed a rooster Ivan tends to pick on). Ivan is a mama's boy- I never knew if he would defend anyone or not. But jeesh, what could put symetrical deep puncture wounds in a full grown Bourbon Red Tom's wings on the sides of his chest? Nothing ever rattles that bird: He's super friendly, goes where the people are and ignores the turkey hens when they attack the roosters. Although he's the last in the coop at night, I would have expected him to strut not defend in the face of adversity.
I rinsed off both birds wounds with lots of warm water-neither was actively bleeding when I saw them. I put bacitracin on Tom's wounds. All birds were acting normal, though the geese seemed like they had something they wanted to tell me. I'm beside myself now because there are too many birds (all beloved pets, many rescues) to leave in their Fort Knox pens all day and I can't afford better fencing than the 3 foot tall welded wire fence I have now.
Any thoughts? Dog? Fox? Infighting? Anything more I can do medically besides keep on eye on them? Anything?
