4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[wilkole]

Help, our biggest chook Chalky has a bloody patch above her righthand thigh, looks quite fresh and bright red. I think it looks like she has been attacked but would only be by one of of our other 3 ladies as we only let them out when we can supervise in the evenings whilst reading a book for an hour or so on the bench and whilst cooking on the bbq.

 

Hubby thinks it could be a red mite or something.

 

She doesnt look in distress and is walking as normal, it has only appeared since yesterday when we got our first 2 eggs from 2 of the other ladies.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

If we got some red mite powder tomorrow and put some on her would it make it worse?

[Budgies]

Most importantly you need to stop her or the others seeing this bloody patch.

 

A chicken will even peck at itself once they spot blood.

 

If you have a purple spray use some of that. Failing that, use blue food colouring on her to disguise the colour.

 

Then treat her for red mite if that's what you suspect the problem is.

[wilkole]

Thanks, how can we tell if it is red mite or if she has been attacked.

 

At present she is in the eglu whilst the others are outside.

 

She hasnt noticed it yet, she pecks at her left side and always has done

[Patricia W]

It's unlikely to be red mite. I don't think they cause this type of injury. Sounds more like pecking or she's caught her self somewhere

[Egluntyne]

It won't be redmite....they lurk in dark nooks and crannies and come out at night to feed on the hen s blood, but don't make the kind of injuries you describe.

 

Purple Spray is a good idea as the other hens will investigate further if the can see blood.

 

It never harms to treat the hens with redmite powder, but I wouldn't apply it to the wound.

 

You could, however, apply some wound powder to it if you prefer. Available at pet shops.

[Budgies]

Eglutine, I'm interested in this too!! Red mite could not cause that injury in a hen obviously, but do you think that if she was very irritated by red mite she may worry at an area with her beak and cause a wound, or are they not that silly?!

 

Wilkole - If it's not red mite, it's possible I suppose that another hen may have pecked her, so I'd keep an eye out. Alternatively, she might have just caught herself on a nail or something sharp in the garden.

 

Hope it's improved soon

[wilkole]

Thanks all

 

We seperated her from the other 3 on Friday and applied some purple spray.

 

Yesterday when they are out in the garden she was keeping herself to herself for a while then they all mixed and all was fine for about 20 mins until our brown chook dcided to peck her so we have kept them apart and plan to do so until Tuesday.

 

Cut is healing well so panic over, was up at 2am yesterday as was really worried about her.

 

Once she is better we are going to pull the brown chook out and let her learn a lesson for peking chalky.

[Budgies]

If your brown chook is going to be near the little one that's been bullied, you might want to try and fit her with a bumper bit so she can't peck her and do more damage.

[wilkole]

If your brown chook is going to be near the little one that's been bullied, you might want to try and fit her with a bumper bit so she can't peck her and do more damage.

 

 

Where can we get a bumper bit from please?

[Budgies]

I believe that these people will provide one in exchange for a few stamps

 

www.wernlas.com

[wilkole]

We have brought some bumper bits and they dont appear to be working. The purple spray has helped heal the wound.

 

We kept chalky out for a week and put her back in last night, the wound had healed very well and no signs of blood.

 

Tonight when we checked they have been scratching her with their beaks and the hole has reappeared and is worse than ever.

 

We are scared we are going to lose her, what else can we do?

[Budgies]

I don't know if it's all the other girls that are picking on her but if it's just one who is ringleader, you might want to remove the bully and put her separately from the others. They soon lose their place in the pecking order like this and will give your poorly girl a chance.

 

Is the purple spray just to cover the wound so others don't peck at it, or does it contain an anti-peck stuff that tastes disgusting in a bid to putting the others off?

 

There are several threads on fitting bumper bits, I'll find one and post the link for you.

 

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44763&hilit=bumper+bit

 

Hope that's of some use to you