Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[chickenNutter]

My sablepoot bantam Poppy and her two sisters are fairly new arrivals and I may have rushed the introductions with my existing Wyandotte, Dotty and her sidekick Myrtle Pekin. Subsequently Poppy is firmly bottom of the pecking order and is being horribly bullied by Dotty and to a lesser extent Myrtle. About three weeks ago she had not appeared out of the eglu classic in the morning and looking inside I found that overnight she had been forced to the back on her side and had one leg and wing stuck down between the roosting bars and tray and she was just lying there squashed behind Myrtle who was flumped down being broody. She had possibly been like that all night. When I got her out she was lame on that leg and dragging a wing, and after a rest in a comfy cat carrier appeared fine if a little lame.

 

Three weeks on I am now keeping her and her sisters completely separate from the other two but she has got more lame and yesterday I noticed blood on a perch in the run. On examining her foot I discovered the stubs of three broken foot feathers at least one of which was bleeding continuously so I bathed the area and used poultry wound powder to try and staunch the bleeding which it appeared to do, although she continued to be lame. This morning it is bleeding again and so after trawling the internet for advice, I managed to remove the longest feather stub with tweezers, but I cannot tell if the other two stubs are broken feather shaft, or sort of part of the structure they come out of.

 

1. Does anyone have a good diagram showing the structure of feathers as they go into the skin and

2. Should removing this blood feather stop her being lame almost immediately, ie how will I know if it has solved the problem or the lameness is due to something else?

3. What do I do about the bullying from here on in? Dotty really will not leave her alone for more than 2 minutes.

 

Help!

[The Dogmother]

Are you able to post photos so we can see the damage and help?

 

I would segregate them within the main run, so they can mingle with the others until things have settled down.

 

Be prepared to take things slowly and wait until they are all ready to be together. I am assuming that the newbies are adult-sized?

 

I have just integrated two very nervy and flappy Blue Angels wit my existing flock; took 3 weeks, and they are settled now, but they just needed longer than most birds.

[chickenNutter]

Thanks Dogmother, the whole area is clean as a whistle now and healing up, but she is still very shaky on her legs and if she has to move quickly she falls over and sticks her wing out. To top it all off there is now a confirmed case of bird flu in Preston, and we are within the 2 km no movement zone - does that mean I can't take her to the vet if she gets any worse?

[chickenNutter]

Actually we are outside the no movement zone. Phew! I can't convert kilometres to miles!

[The Dogmother]

If she is unsteady, then there is something else going on. Without seeing her myself, I would say that she eeds to go to the vet.

[chickenNutter]

Yes, I have an appointment at 5.30. But not looking good, she keeps lying on one side with one leg stretched out, and doesn't seem to be able to get up, but if you pick her up and put her on her legs she is able to walk unsteadily. Very odd. Will report back later. Keep your fingers crossed.

[The Dogmother]

Hmmm, I may be wrong, but (without seeing her) it could be the slow-burn variation of Marek's.

[sparkysmum]

How is she? Hoping for the best but as others on the forum know I lost two little poots to mareks some years ago. 3rd one survived as is now over 6yrs old! Ax