Tunie B
Songster
- Oct 19, 2020
- 62
- 82
- 111
Hi all. I am a new chicken owner, and longtime lurker. This is a complicated post--please bear with me.
I bought my Easter Egger chicks from Cackle Hatchery last May. I accidentally got 2 roosters and 4 hens. The roos got along great, I hand-raised everyone, was so happy with my flock.
But recently, one roo (the underling--the top roo is ok) began getting aggressive with my mom and my husband. The birds are free-range, so this is a big problem.
So I posted an ad for the Problem Roo, a lady adopted him and was excited. Two days later, she asked me to come get him, as she believed he has blackhead. She couldn't risk transmission to her birds (which included turkeys), so I 100% understand.
It's possible the roo just had fighting wounds on face from Boss Roo, but I washed his comb and noticed a little blue on his comb, which I know now is a telltale sign of Blackhead disease. I never knew anything about this disease before.
I am quarantining the sick roo now because he and Boss Roo now want to kill each other, after only 2 days apart. I don't have enough pens, I am very stressed, and now Boss Roo tries to go after ME because he can't get to the estranged roo.
I didn't know that I was supposed to deworm my chickens, or I absolutely would have. Our coop is clean and they run all over property. Please don't shame me for this; I thought I was doing all the right things, but never had chickens before.
I'm taking sick roo to farm vet to confirm, but if he is positive, can I ever re-home him? Or will he be contagious forever? I think he could thrive in his own flock with his own hens, but I don't have space or time for more. I tried to avoid all of this by ordering sexed chicks, but of course that is never 100%.
My instinct is to have him humanely euthanized at vet, if I can't give him a quality life (no hens, in a cage forever after being raised free-range), and he can't be responsibly re-homed without infecting other flocks. Thoughts? Thank you for reading.
I bought my Easter Egger chicks from Cackle Hatchery last May. I accidentally got 2 roosters and 4 hens. The roos got along great, I hand-raised everyone, was so happy with my flock.
But recently, one roo (the underling--the top roo is ok) began getting aggressive with my mom and my husband. The birds are free-range, so this is a big problem.
So I posted an ad for the Problem Roo, a lady adopted him and was excited. Two days later, she asked me to come get him, as she believed he has blackhead. She couldn't risk transmission to her birds (which included turkeys), so I 100% understand.
It's possible the roo just had fighting wounds on face from Boss Roo, but I washed his comb and noticed a little blue on his comb, which I know now is a telltale sign of Blackhead disease. I never knew anything about this disease before.
I am quarantining the sick roo now because he and Boss Roo now want to kill each other, after only 2 days apart. I don't have enough pens, I am very stressed, and now Boss Roo tries to go after ME because he can't get to the estranged roo.
I didn't know that I was supposed to deworm my chickens, or I absolutely would have. Our coop is clean and they run all over property. Please don't shame me for this; I thought I was doing all the right things, but never had chickens before.
I'm taking sick roo to farm vet to confirm, but if he is positive, can I ever re-home him? Or will he be contagious forever? I think he could thrive in his own flock with his own hens, but I don't have space or time for more. I tried to avoid all of this by ordering sexed chicks, but of course that is never 100%.
My instinct is to have him humanely euthanized at vet, if I can't give him a quality life (no hens, in a cage forever after being raised free-range), and he can't be responsibly re-homed without infecting other flocks. Thoughts? Thank you for reading.