Smallest Rooster & Largest Rooster Fought. Small roo is caked in blood on combs and face, eyes shut, not eat or drinking

[BigBlueHen53]

Ah, there's @azygous. She's the one to listen to. Thanks, azygous, I did not know that.

 

[GodLovesU]

Can you post a picture?

 

[ChickenNewbieGA]

In making your decision, understand that when a rooster is soundly beaten by a rival roo, there are serious psychological consequences that can exacerbate his injuries. When a rooster is defeated, he is meant to be driven out of the flock, and the loser roo abides by this. In other words, he has received this message. He will not try to recover.

If you wish to keep him for some reason, his psychological state has to be addressed before you even try to heal his wounds. If you aren't prepared to do this, then you should probably euthanize him.

We did not know this. I just wasn't sure what the right thing to do was. I'd never even considered the psychological effects for a chicken. Not to sound harsh. I just wasn't aware it went that in depth. We will cull him tomorrow.

I'm assuming that them being siblings has no effect on them fighting to death/to kick another out of the flock? This is very educational. Thank you and please feel free to continue adding more info. I'm here to learn.

 

[Fallenone05]

We did not know this. I just wasn't sure what the right thing to do was. I'd never even considered the psychological effects for a chicken. Not to sound harsh. I just wasn't aware it went that in depth. We will cull him tomorrow.

I'm assuming that them being siblings has no effect on them fighting to death/to kick another out of the flock? This is very educational. Thank you and please feel free to continue adding more info. I'm here to learn.

Siblings, sons/fathers don't matter. If one doesn't like the other there, they get pushed out.

It can get intense when you have hens who have hit puberty. The usual ratio is 1 rooster to 10 hens, so when there isn't enough to go around? It can get bloody.

 

[ChickenNewbieGA]

Siblings, sons/fathers don't matter. If one doesn't like the other there, they get pushed out.

It can get intense when you have hens who have hit puberty. The usual ratio is 1 rooster to 10 hens, so when there isn't enough to go around? It can get bloody.

Oh wow! So if we kept the one hen we would need to rehome the 3 other roos then? I figured it was okay to have the one rooster in charge and one hen but don't want her at any safety concern.

 

[Fallenone05]

Oh wow! So if we kept the one hen we would need to rehome the 3 other roos then? I figured it was okay to have the one rooster in charge and one hen but don't want her at any safety concern.

As long as the rooster you keep isn't over breeding her, sometimes it works out okay. Chickens need companions, though, so a single hen or single rooster isn't a good setup. Either get a couple more hens and keep a rooster or just get a couple more hens.

Roosters are pretty and are good protectors, but they don't make the hens lay.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Since this we have tried water, food (chicken feed, strawberries and some sausage patties we had on hand) and we do not believe he has eaten at all. His eyes are still closed and he is wheezing to breathe still. He also has a brown/green liquid in his mouth that I saw tonight.

Welcome To BYC

Do you have photos of him?
The wheezing may be from aspirating blood, hard to know.
Without seeing him, I'm just going to go by what I've dealt with when I've had roosters fight.
Check the beak to see if it's cracked or broken. Gently open the beak, if he's got dried blood/mucous/debris in the beak, swab it out with a wetted qtip.

For eyes/face that is crusted with blood. Apply a light layer of vaseline or triple antibiotic ointment to the dried blood, let it soften all this up. Then gently take a warm compress (damp cloth) and wipe away most of the dried up blood.
Now you can work on eyes. Warm compress again (use saline - I'll post a recipe below or you can use store bought eye wash). Lightly flush/rinse the eyes, then apply triple antibiotic ointment or if you have it Terramycin eye ointment. Both of the ointments - apply to facial tissue and put a dot of it in the eyes. This will help them heal up. Being in a fight, they get kicked in the head, debris from feet gets into the eyes...it can cause bubbling and pus, so cleaning out the eyes is important. If you can't do it all at one time. Work on it in stages.

Tell us what his crop feels like. Look for any bruising to the body (breast/chest/crop area). They kick the head and chest. He's probably sore and it will take days for the crop and digestive system to begin healing and functioning properly.

He's in shock, he's been beaten. I agree - when this happens, they have lost vigor - it's sometimes hard to work them through this.

Sugar water or electrolytes. Give him drops and keep him relatively warm. Cage/kennel or move him somewhere the other rooster cannot come around.
I've found they do like to be talked too. Gently stroke the wing/shoulder, don't pet the head.

Do the best you can to perk him up. IF he does have a hen or two that favor him, it would be good to bring them to see/visit him daily. Nothing like a hen to hopefully motivate a rooster. If he doesn't attempt to even grunt or talk to them while he's down, then he's not likely to recover, but I'd give it a really good go for several days before calling it.

And yes, a .22 will work just fine if it comes to that.

In making your decision, understand that when a rooster is soundly beaten by a rival roo, there are serious psychological consequences that can exacerbate his injuries. When a rooster is defeated, he is meant to be driven out of the flock, and the loser roo abides by this. In other words, he has received this message. He will not try to recover.

If you wish to keep him for some reason, his psychological state has to be addressed before you even try to heal his wounds. If you aren't prepared to do this, then you should probably euthanize him.

 

[azygous]

Since you asked for more information on chicken psychology, yes, it is a "thing". It's one of the things that totally surprised me when I first began to keep chickens. They do indeed have deep psychological needs. They are, in many ways, just like humans in their needs for love, acceptance, belonging, and self confidence. They have the capacity, just as our other pets, to form deep bonds with us and each other. Here's an article I wrote about this. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ding-agent-between-us-and-our-chickens.78307/

A few years ago, my two roosters, father and son, had one of those brutal brawls where the older roo was soundly beaten and bloodied and their roles reversed. The older roo was driven so far away that it took me all day to locate him and bring him back. He was scared to death of the younger roo and wouldn't eat or go anywhere near him. I separated them for one day and gave the older roo special privileges with the hens in order to restore his self confidence. The two roos then were able to patch things up and continue a cordial relationship with their new roles.

You do have too many roosters, and a ratio of around ten hens to one roo is the kind of rule of thumb in order to avoid over mating and friction. But there is no reason you can't keep a bachelor flock of roosters as long as you keep them separate from the hens. They get along pretty well when they aren't constantly fighting over the girls.