I was a little startled when I came out to the coop this morning. My roo had blood all over his head and neck. His comb had two rather large blood spots on it from where he was bitten or grabbed at (from a predator). I have a couple of theories.
The first is that one of the hens bit him. How common is this? I only have one rooster and 7 hens. We used to have another rooster and the two roosters were always trying to show their dominance and we had quite a few bloody combs then-but now with just the one rooster things are pretty peaceful around the coop. My chickens have plenty of room to run, they aren't crowded, and I have never seen one of my hens go at the rooster before.
My second theory is that something grabbed at the rooster during the night. My coop is inside our pole barn, so it just has hardware cloth and chicken wire for the sides and roof. There is a spot where a raccoon or another predator could have possibly stuck a hand in through the wire and grabbed at the roo while he was on the roost. I noticed that some of the wire near the roost was a little loose, like it had been pulled on. Perhaps I have a night time visitor I need to watch out for. I looked for tracks-we have a dirt floor in our barn, but there were none that I could see. Also, aren't raccoons rather scarce during the winter months? It has been pretty cold here, I assumed that they slept through most of the winter. Enlighten me please!
What do you all think?
The first is that one of the hens bit him. How common is this? I only have one rooster and 7 hens. We used to have another rooster and the two roosters were always trying to show their dominance and we had quite a few bloody combs then-but now with just the one rooster things are pretty peaceful around the coop. My chickens have plenty of room to run, they aren't crowded, and I have never seen one of my hens go at the rooster before.
My second theory is that something grabbed at the rooster during the night. My coop is inside our pole barn, so it just has hardware cloth and chicken wire for the sides and roof. There is a spot where a raccoon or another predator could have possibly stuck a hand in through the wire and grabbed at the roo while he was on the roost. I noticed that some of the wire near the roost was a little loose, like it had been pulled on. Perhaps I have a night time visitor I need to watch out for. I looked for tracks-we have a dirt floor in our barn, but there were none that I could see. Also, aren't raccoons rather scarce during the winter months? It has been pretty cold here, I assumed that they slept through most of the winter. Enlighten me please!
What do you all think?
