I went down to our coop this morning to do usually morning thing. Feed the chickens, let them out, make sure the dropping boards are clean and the nests are free of poop.
I was surprised however, to see our main rooster, Double Dots, already outside, alone and walking funny. Hunched up. Covered in blood.
At first I think that maybe we forgot to close the coop last night and am suddenly terrified that bloody rooster = dead chickens.
But no, the coop is closed
Dots got locked out. All night, on a night where it was less than 19-degrees (farenheit), with a wicked wind blowing from the north.
There are so many things going on in my head.
1. Was Dots attacked in the night by predator?
2. Why was he outside?
You see? Dot is usually the first rooster in the coop, and he usually dictates who goes inside first.
However, we have a handful of young Roo-lings who were too young in September /October to send to Freezer Camp… and Dots is almost 4 years old. Could it be that he was outside when everyone was inside because there is a dominance war going on? Could someone else be stepping up to wrestle the role of Main Rooster from our Dots?
Dots was injured, his eye and comb pretty beat up. I have him in the dog crate that doubles as a hospital ward / broody breaker. I checked him over, there are no body injuries, just his eye and comb. Cleaned him up with warm water and sprayed his comb Scarlex oil and his eye with Vetericyn spray.
Called Tractor Supply to see if they had eye gel, and learned that green tea works for eye injuries too.
He will need to be separated from his flock until I can be sure his eye will get better. He will need care and patience and a lot of prayers.
I’m trying to practical. If his eye does not get better, he’s not much use to his flock. But this is our Double Dots we’re talking about. If I have to cull, I will be heart broken beyond words.
And .. that leads me to the other thought on my heart
3. Double Dots is one tough roosters. He survived all night, injured and alone. He deserves to pull through this.
Pictures below are heartbreaking.
There a Chick 
I hope he pulls through!
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Me too! We’ve treated his eye three times with Vetericyn spray and twice with the gel. He’s not flipping out over the spray now, so I think it’s relieving his pain. Also, he was opening his eye a little tonight. I just the eyeball wasn’t injured. If it’s just the outside, he should be fine… According to Google, anyway.
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Oh no! Poor Dots! ☹️ It does look like he’s been in a rooster fight, considering all the facial injuries. It reminds me of when my cockerels Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam were fighting, although they didn’t get eye injuries. You’re looking after him well. Keep an eye on him! I hope you don’t have to make a tough decision about his future.
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That is what it’s looking like. His eye is getting better, slowly. We are treating it 3x a day and he’s slowly opening it further.
However, I’ve been bringing him outside with me while I’m there and witness him *running away* from at least one of the other roosters on two occasions. He is afraid.
I may continue supervised visits as his eye gets better, to try and determine what our next step will be. He can’t live in the med crate forever.
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