The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: cambee on March 15, 2017, 06:30:32 pm
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Hi please can anyone give advice on this. We have a beautiful Silver Wyandotte cockerel with our 10 girls who does a great job at keeping them in order. 2 weeks ago he had blood under his wattle so I checked him over and it looked like he had injured it. I cleaned him up, sprayed purple spray on it and left him and all was fine. Lunchtime today, the same thing. Again I checked him. His feathers were quite bloody but it looked like another minor injury so I cleaned and sprayed him. I checked again at tea time and he was lay on the ground with 3 of his ladies pecking at him. There was a lot more blood and feathers missing. I have separated him into a small pen and cleaned him up. Tomorrow when my partner is home I can clean him properly with antiseptic and maybe trim away the matted feathers. Beyond that I am not sure? Has anyone come across this? I could understand if he was low in the pecking order but he is the boss so why wouldn't he have stopped the others picking on him? All help welcome!
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Is it possible that there's a medical reason for him to collapse or fall on the floor? I had a hen once who had epilepsy and she was immediately set upon by the others when she was down even though normally they were all just fine together.
Any idea who the ringleader might be of the attackers?
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How odd! Never had this with any of mine even when the cockerels were old and on their last legs.
Could it be that your hens know that he is ill?
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Could he have lice at all or something similar? It does sound like a bit of a medical condition. Has he been twisting his head around or showing any signs of seizures or anything? Could it be a heart attack? Curious :thinking:
What do you think? [member=26799]fsmnutter[/member] ?
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Certainly sounds like there is an underlying reason for him to suddenly drop down the pecking order, I'd suggest a trip to the vets for a health check and keeping him away from the offending ladies until he can recover.
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The pecking order is just that. Chickens are merciless when it comes to survival of the fittest. Hens may also not want to be mated with an ailing cockerel. If you want to keep him and try to use him again in the future I suggest getting him checked out, isolating him until you're sure he's fit then putting him in with just a couple of hens at the bottom of the pecking order to start with.
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Also chickens will automatically peck at blood and wounds so I would keep him separate until he's completely healed.
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It could be down to a lack of space combined with hens coming into lay and trying to secure their territory? For some reason he has lost their respect as a defender and food finder. You will certainly need to keep him apart until totally healed as hens will peck scabs off. We had one case where two hens ate half the cockerel's comb whilst we were out. Once they had tasted his blood even 3 months of isolation hadn't broken the habit. Stockholm tar is what we put on minor injuries to stop hens pecking, but it needs re-applying every two days. If you can identify the cannibals Bumpa beak bits may work?
As MF says, re-introduce him with lowest pecking order hens. Ideally the hens should be introduced to his territory, not theirs. Once he has established his small flock add individual hens and wait until he has trodden them before adding the next. Give him treats he can call his hens to - it works well for us.