Roosters fighting through fence!

[jak2002003]

I went to feed my chickens this afternoon and saw my 3 Japanese Bantam roosters covered in blood all over their faces.

Then I spotted a neighbors game cock through a narrow gap in the back fence. At once my little rooters ran over to it and I saw that they were fighting through the spaces in the wooden fence.

I have blocked off the area, but I am worried about my Roosters.

They don't have any real serious wounds, but their faces are really scabby, bloody and swollen. Looks like they have been in bar room fight.

They used to look so beautiful, but now they look a mess, and one is rather 'off'. He is the top roo, but now he is just sitting about exhausted and when he crows its very quite.

I feel so bad for them.

Will they heal up OK? Can I wash their faces in the morning? My pure white rooster is very messy, covered in blood all around his head and down his back where he was been wiping his face on himself.

I think they must have been fighting all day as they are so exhausted. All the hens and chicks are fine.

 

[centrarchid]

Heads heal fast. Inspect carefully for damage to beak and feet. If damage noted there, then cleaning birds up a bit is order. To control infection with dinged up feet, I would move birds off dirt and keep their feet dry. Use of bluecoat can also control infection. Make certain water and food are top notch during healing process.

Your location is not evident but if where below freezing, such damaged birds will be more prone to frostbite until wounds heal.

 

[jak2002003]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Location is Thailand and the temps are quite hot.

I looked for damage to the body etc, but it only is the face, combs and wattles.

The faces of 2 of the roosters are very swollen - probably from being pecked over and over again for hours! The stupid birds never gave up or got bored with the fighting!

I will keep them in their run (which has dry clean sand floor). I am going to have to fix up the garden fence. I am lucky the other rooster did not fly into the garden or it could have been a lot worse.

Hope they will look better soon.

Do you know how long it will take the white rooster to get rid of the blood off his feathers? He looks horrible!

 

[centrarchid]

A few days at most. Your description suggest head biting occured with minimal flogging. What did the game rooster look like with respect to breed?

 

[jak2002003]

He is a Thai game rooster. Neighbors on all sided have them - and the house builders near my house. They are all free range which their hens and chicks, but their most expensive ones are kept under baskets.

There has never been a problem in all the years I lived here. Even when they would fly into my garden and eat my chicken food and no fighting. I don't know what happened that day.

You are right, there are no wounds on the body at all, only their faces are real pecked up around the top of the beak, eyes and sides of the face. The gap in the fence was not big enough for them to get their entire heads through with their big combs.

Today they look scabby and one rooster has a swollen area around his eye, making him squint.

I have a new problem now in that my 4 roosters now have to be separated as they hate each other - maybe its the blood on their faces setting them off, or perhaps they no longer recognize each other - I don't know. They all used to live together fine for the last 3 years.

 

[froggiesheins]

Well, they all just finished a fighting frenzy so they are still "worked up" about that. Do you have the time to devote to "retraining" them to be nice again? Are they responsive to you? I would assume so as U say you've had them 3 years?
Let me know and I can give you some pointers..LOL

 

[jak2002003]

Well, they all just finished a fighting frenzy so they are still "worked up" about that. Do you have the time to devote to "retraining" them to be nice again? Are they responsive to you? I would assume so as U say you've had them 3 years?
Let me know and I can give you some pointers..LOL

Thank you, I will ask you advise..... You are right, they are very worked up, crowing like mad and very restless and flighty. Normally they are lazy placid little things. I have 4 adult roosters in my flock. They had a good pecking order and never had a fight more than if a lower one stepped out of line with the hens, then all that happened was a scuffle and short chase.

I think they are also fighting now as they can see lots of blood on each others faces. Maybe they don't recognize each other.

For now I have put each rooster in his own cage with food and water. One I was very worried about as he had lost gone really lethargic and was nto eating or drinking, just sitting in the corner closing his eyes. He is much better today.

I tried letting one out with the hens, but all he did was try to fight the other roosters through the bars of the cages. So he is back in his cage.

Do you think I should let them all out again and let them sort themselves out? OR wait till they are healed and the dry blood and scabs are off, then try?

I have lots of time to give them. I am disabled and work from home, and they are my pets - I often pop out to sit watching them in the garden when I am not working.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

They definitely don't recognize one another now. Also the old cock-of-the-walk may have lost his place in the pecking order. That will toss the pecking order in total disarray until they sort it out among themselves. Good luck with that.

I have seen them fight their own reflection in a shiny hubcap, or a chrome bumper. I have had roos fight through a nail hole in a solid fence if there was a roo next door and they both happened to look through the nail hole at the right, I mean wrong, err at the same moment.

If you isolate them in separate pens, they may never run together again, good luck.

 

[centrarchid]

The exceptional part to this is how long they went before the battle royal, Getting the old linear social system back will likely require continued fighting to sort things out with considerable risk for permament damage or mortality. If you had property covering several acres / hectares you might be able to get birds to set up discrete territories but even that comes with risks. I can do that with my games but territories are not stable over long-term.

Long-term you are likely faced with keeping at least some of the roosters penned up at least some of the time, possibly with a rotation of who is out free-ranging. We used to do this with the aid of a cockhouse where confined roosters were not accessible to the bird free-ranging. Our cockhouse was of the 36 rooster capacity size so considerable investment required for that although you could make a much smaller design that also functions as a garden shed. Otherwise you might consider reducing the number of roosters to one and allow new roosters to be raised under him for another year or two before process repeats.

Blood does not make birds unrecognizable to each other since they can also use voice. What has happened is a reshuffling of the mind where roosters are all trying for top spot and old linear ranking system does not apply. The Tai rooster likely started change in mind set and fun you now have.

 

[froggiesheins]

OK, here is what I am suggesting to try. Each rooster has his own cage but place them close enough to see eachother but not close enough to get "riled up over it". Slowly [over the course of days] move the cages closer together, if there is squabbling do this:

Since they all know you well, you can start instituting a new rule on them...YOU are the top rooster. Teach them the word NO followed by a tap to the back of the head/neck [just like they do to eachother] everytime they start to give eachother the "eye". When you have noticed they back away from the NO/ thump you can try doing just NO raise your finger at them and stare them down....When this works, then you can try supervized outings together for short periods of time so you can interviene if a squabble starts.... I can't tell you how long this will take but it will work if you give it enough time. I have 4 serama roosters that live together in a run/coop and I used this method and now everyone gets along OK, yes there are occasional spats, but I just use the "I am the boss" rule and they back down......

This WILL NOT work on game stags ever because fight to the death has been so ingrained in their minds thru selective breeding. [just saying].....