Head injury treatment from cockerels fighting

[ochochicas]

The inevitable happened this morning. My two 6-week old cockerels tried to do each other in. The obvious loser is missing some skin from his head and had bite marks on his comb. The bleeding has stopped, but I'm not sure if there is anything I should be doing with his head after it was cleaned off. Is it OK to put him back outside today, or should he stay inside to keep his head clean?

He won't be going in the pen with the other cockerel They are separated until further notice.
Thanks!

 

[centrarchid]

Damage is minimal. TO address cause, what are you feeding them and how are they housed?

 

[ochochicas]

They eat chick starter (free choice) and also get veggies, some fruit, cheese, bugs/worms, and outdoor greens. They are in a 10 x 12 stall with several roosts and multiple feed dishes. These two have been going at it since they were 10 days old. Eventually one of them has to go.

 

[centrarchid]

Behavior is not typical for non-games in good nutrition. Is the chick grower bag fresh?

 

[ochochicas]

Yes, I just bought a brand new bag last week. Started with 8 "pullets" but two of them ended up being cockerels. I knew they were cockerels when they were 2 weeks old because they wouldn't stop fighting. Will giving them vegetables make them aggressive? The most aggressive one started crowing at exactly 5 weeks. The other one (who got beat up this morning) had a big comb at 4 weeks. As you can see in the pic, the comb is quite large and red and he's not even 7 weeks old yet. He's just starting to crow, but only does it when the other one starts up.

 

[ochochicas]

One is an Easter Egger and the other is a black sex link (I think).

 

[centrarchid]

Please show a current picture of both birds from the side. I raise lots of males and usually do not have such problems. It is also evident that many comment on aggressiveness of easter eggers but I have no experience with them. One of your combatants looks like a barred Plymouth Rock.

 

[ochochicas]

I'll try to get some pics of them this afternoon.

The cockerel that was beat up was supposed to be a Barred Rock pullet, but I'm 99% sure he is a black sex link male. Let's just say the store didn't sell me what they said they were selling. His barring isn't consistent with a Barred Rock cockerel, and when he was smaller he was solid black with a small white dot on his head. We call him Rocky anyway.

Yesterday the chicks were separated into two groups all day so Rocky wouldn't be picked on by the mean one. His head is all scabbed over and none of the pullets are bothering him. As soon as I turned them all out in the yard to free range, the EE would chase and try to attack him. Rocky would run back into his stall or hide behind me.

The EE had to spend the night in a cage by himself. He's doing his 5:30 a.m. crowing at this very moment. He's such a pretty bird but it looks like he'll have to find a new home.