Solitary chicken - need advice

[scubababe]

This is what greeting me today

 

022 by skubababe, on Flickr

 

024 by skubababe, on Flickr

 

026 by skubababe, on Flickr

 

She was in the nest box away from the others...no wonder!!

 

I've now got her in the house, in the dog crate. She's eating pellets & drinking.

 

I'll get her to the vets tomorrow.

 

Should I keep her in the house?

How long for?

Should I keep her in the WIR but separated from the others?

 

If I catch which one did this

 

A friend of m,ine has offered to take her in with her two if she keeps getting picked on.

[ohcarolina]

Ouch - they are evils at times aren't they. Keep an eye on her as infection sets in soooo fast.

 

Good luck littl'un.

[cyclonetog]

You'll need to keep her separate until the wound is healed up or they'll just keep going for it.

 

I'd keep her in while it's still open to the elements to reduce risk of infection.

[Tweety]

Poor girl. I'd keep her in the house until she has seen the vet. Have you got any veterinary wound powder or something similar to put on the wound?

You will have to keep her separate from the others until the wound has healed.

[scubababe]

Poor girl. I'd keep her in the house until she has seen the vet. Have you got any veterinary wound powder or something similar to put on the wound?

You will have to keep her separate from the others until the wound has healed.

 

Unfortunately no wound powder I will make sure I get some tomorrow so I can keep it in stock. BIG lesson learnt!

 

She's resting nicely & she's in the quiet room. She's bright eyed. The wound just looks soo raw at the moment

[scubababe]

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/johnsons-veterinary-wound-powder-33871

 

Would that do the trick?

[scubababe]

or this one?

 

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/veterinary-antibacterial-powder-40g-by-vetzyme-36453

[GeorgieB]

Sorry to hear about your poor hen

 

I know your friend has offered to take her in with her 2 girls if she continues to get picked on but just giving you another option as we are now down to just one hen and are looking for 1 or 2 more to keep her company. She is a very sweet gentle girl anyway. I don't mind travelling to Derbyshire either.

 

Georgie

[cheekymonkey68]

Yep I reckon so, if not salt water is better than nothing. I had a big hole in one of my girls and I had to flush it with Saline fluid twice per day... it healed very quickly, I kept her in the house for about a week..... then slowly integrated her with the others when they were free ranging in the garden with us, then they all went off to bed together.... you may need to think about a bumpa bit for the offending chicken who started the pecking ?? otherwise it could happen again, and once they see blood as you have witnessed they'll all have a go.

Hope you are ok, I know its a dreadful shock when this happens, and hope you dear chook is all ok tomorrow.

 

Marion x

[Snowy]

Oh no Jules, poor wee hen!

My big girls did exactly the same to one of my pekins the one time I tried to integrate them.

I just kept her away from the others for a few days - gave it a liberal coating of the Johnsons wound powder in your first link and it healed up pretty quickly. xx

[scubababe]

I managed to find some 'Johnsons Poultry antibacterial powder' so my lovely now has a white neck

 

She's still eating and drinking but is obviously in discomfort a she keeps stretching her neck backwards and shaking her head.

 

We've had a nice cuddle and she even closed her eyes for a wee bit

 

One of my other girls has some bald patches (luckily no skin broken) in the same area so I've bought a job lot of anti-pek!

 

Off to source some bumpa bits!!

[Mrs_B]

Oh your poor hen! That's a nasty wound

 

I can't really add much more advice than what's been said, but I found personally that anti-pecking sprays only help a little, however, I heard that Ukadex is fantastic but it smells very bad (which is kind of the point from the chickens' point of view!). I haven't used it, but was going to before my ladies stopped their pecking. There are loads of threads on here if you search.

 

Good luck and hope your girl gets better soon!

 

x

[scubababe]

Plan of action:-

 

tonight we have quickly put up a mezzanine level in the WIR to create a place of 'escape'.

 

a) tomorrow morning I'm going to put the run back onto the classic & my 3 original chucks will be segregated from my ex-batts.

 

b) order bumpa bits

 

c) take my lady to the vets and get the wound seen too

 

I bought some anti-pek and put it on the girls, they then went out and free-ranged in the garden...and it was raining!!!

 

Unfortunately the grass is getting shredded so free-ranging will have to be limited

 

My ex-batts seem to have had their beaks clipped so can't defend against the attacks

 

Watching them in the garden, when one of my originals goes for them they go submissive and then it's toss a coin as to whether they continue the attack or just go off and continue free-ranging

 

One of my ex-batts appears to have some bald patches (no skin loss) so I definitely need the bumpa bits but I will make an appointment at the vets and get them to fit them. I am not confident enough to fit them

 

My ex-batts really don't seem to have the aggressive streak so I won't bumpa them

[scubababe]

My girlie seems rested this morning and considering her wound she seems quite lively. The wound has mostly dried up so that is a good sign. I've cleaned the cage....for 1 poorly chicken she is still pooing a lot

 

All good signs

 

Managed to find some bumpa bits not to far from me. Have made an appointment at the vets to

a) get my poorly girlie seen to and

b) fit my other 3 with bumpa bits so hopefully that will solve the attacks

 

*and breath*

[Tweety]

Good luck at the vet - let us know how she gets on

[scubababe]

Well the vet was very pleased with her. She said the wound does not look infected but to keep an eye on it. She was more than happy with what I've done so far for her and has said keep with the antibacterial powder and it should hopefully heal.

 

And my girlie laid an egg in the box on the way to the vets

 

My 3 bullies now have bumpa bits on. The vet had not fitted them before but had done some quick research before I arrived so between us we actually did it quickly and relatively easily

 

So all in all that was a good trip and has given me some more confidence with the girls

 

As I've managed to get the bumpa bits fitted today I'm not going to segregate them as the bullies hopefully won't be able to inflict anymore damage

[Tweety]

Great news! Hopefully things will settle down now, and I hope that the wound heals without any problems.

[scubababe]

The wounds appear to be healing nicely

 

She must be feeling better as after her grapes she then decided to completely shred the newspaper on the floor

 

She's now having her night snack of pasta, seaweed & digest-health

 

She won't want to go back in the WIR at this rate

 

The 3 bullies still have the bumpa bits on so we must have fitted them correctly

[The Dogmother]

Sounds like it's going well then!

[scubababe]

ok we are now 1 week into recovery. Madame has been in my study being pampered and the wound is starting to heal. as with any wound of this magnitude it has weeped but does not look infected.

 

Is it safe to put her back into the WIR but in the classic & run. I'm a little worried that if she stays in my study that the others may not accept her back into the flock.

 

The original 3 now have bumpa bits so can't inflict that amount of damage anymore & as her neck is still so raw I wouldn't dream of putting into the main run until the skin had formed.

 

How long will that take?

[Egluntyne]

If it is beginning to heal I would certainly put her where the others can see and hear her. It will give her something to look at, and will reacquaint them all with eachother.

[The Dogmother]

I agree, put her where they can see each other but not take chunks out. the longer they are separated, they longer it takes to re-introduce them.

 

Try some HyperCal ointment on her wounds; it really encourages healing. Both Nelsons and Weleda do one, we get through a fair amount here with my accident prone daughter.