bullied chicken with an open wound

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Fiona Chapman — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 22:28:54 GMT

[quote user="salome2001"]

Please be gentle. This is my own bird, and I'm very new to the backyard chicken business. I also haven't dealt with anything other than companion animals since I graduated *a considerable time* ago.

I recently got two new birds and expected the usual pecking order malarkey. However one of the birds has really copped it. They have been free ranging in the garden most of the last few days which has given the bullied chicken room to escape but I had to go out this evening for a few hours and shut them in the run. When I checked them on my return the bullied chicken has an open wound about an inch round on her back.

I've removed her inside in a cat basket for overnight and am going to get a puppy crate at work tomorrow to temporarily separate her until she's better.

Vet care wise, I'm not exactly sure what to do: apart from the "purple spray"- I was thinking of using manuka honey on the wound plus oral tylan for 7 days. AFAIK Baytril is out as she is a laying bird (though not yet laying). Is there a fly repellent spray I can use as I'm worried in this hot weather about blowflies.

I am also going to get some anti-pecking spray for when she does get reintroduced into the run.

I'd really appreciate some help from anyone more used to seeing chickens.

[/quote]

You can get F10 ointment with insecticide, or F10 spray with insecticide. Oregano is supposed to be anti-anxiety for hens, bit out there but maybe worth a go? There are anti-peck sprays available but I don't know how effective they are once there is a wound present as they tend to all pile in at that stage. The other think to look at might be perch space/feeder space and coop design, as things like narrow entrances into your hen house can encourage bullying.

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

ceri stewart — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:53:02 GMT

Nettex anti peck spray is good, stinks of tar. I have been introducing pairs to a total flock of 4-6 exbatts for years. Usually works fine. The most recent pair though, one had an impacted crop and had to be separated after surgery.to integrate her i have separated the bully of the flock for a week until the rest of the flock accepted newbie. Just gradually reintroducing bully now. Ps our bird lecturer earlier this year told us that they will recover very quickly from wounds compared to mammals, with little intervention :)

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

salome2001 — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:43:16 GMT

I will also look into the anti-peck bit.

I got some Johnson's "anti-pek" spray for the other newbie who was getting hassled though not injured, it doesn't seem to be very peck-deterrent and appears to only contain bitrex. Is there a better spray which acts more as a peck repellent than a bitter spray?

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

salome2001 — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:39:25 GMT

[quote user="vanessab"]

I recently got two new birds and expected the usual pecking order malarkey.

Does that mean you have two birds in total or have added two newbies to existing birds?

[/quote]

Two pre-existing and two newbies.

Thanks all for your replies. Jasmine is doing well in her puppy crate which is kept next to the run in the day so they can see her but not get to her. the wound is healing well. They are getting let out to free range in the garden in shifts. We'll keep this up until she is healed, at which time I will do a veeerrrry careful reintroduction. She actually got out in the garden with the other three today when she shot out of the cage to get at the bolted lettuce I'd brought over from the plot and I had a frustrating five minutes trying to extract her from "their" run whilst keeping the other three birds out!

But it seems to have turned out ok, and I now have a new appreciation of "pecking order".

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Gareth C. — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:33:20 GMT

We had similar thing. It will stop after about ten days. Oral clindamycin useful too if you in small animal practice and can't get tylan

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

vanessab — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:53:23 GMT

I recently got two new birds and expected the usual pecking order malarkey.

Does that mean you have two birds in total or have added two newbies to existing birds?

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Sarah Keir — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 09:27:56 GMT

I've been in the same situation myself with my own flock of 3 girls. I thought of them as egg producers until something happened to one of them and I realised that they meant more to me than that. My two pence-

- She doesn't need systemic antibtioic. Blue spray is great for 2 reasons - it dries out the wound and no longer red so less chance of pecking. Chickens will peck furiously at anything that is red in colour.

- get a 'bumber bit' for the aggressive chicken. It may seem unfair initially but is much preferable to having chickens pecked to death, living separately or having their neck pulled as one poster has suggested. You can find them on eBay, easy to put on and the chicken with it on will live a normal happy life but she will not be able to do any damage when she pecks!

Does anyone know if rhubarb leaves are poisonous for chickens? When my girls are free range in the garden they go straight to the rhubarb and fill up on it!

Sarah

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Yantha Smyth — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 21:36:18 GMT

Perhaps that F10 spray that is antiseptic, plus can get it with an insect repellent added?

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Suzanne Kelly — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 17:09:59 GMT

Chickens heal very well and even awful looking wounds do well. Re purple spray, have you ever sprayed it on your own open wounds? It stings like mad. Oral Tylan fine. Stay away from Baytril, totally banned in laying birds. I'd add some metacam orally as well. Not licensed but you should be ok to use it under the cascade. Chickens are prey animals so won't show pain. Suzanne

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Hannah Wynne Richards — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 10:12:09 GMT

You can get a fly-repellant ointment at a sadlers. Don't reintroduce until completely healed, and be very careful then. You may have to house her at night in a single coop, and only allow to mix with the others during the day.

Wynne

Re: bullied chicken with an open wound

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 01:46:52 GMT

I wouldn't normally treat with systemic antibiotics. Antibiotic spray (Engemycin/Terramycin) for a couple of days. If you keep it green it tends to keep the flies away. Covering the chicken in honey will only serve to attract them! Unless you want two separate groups I'd elongate the neck at this point.

Chances are you will not ever be able to keep this chicken with the others. They are cruel bastards. On a number of occasions we've had chickens turn and kill their mates - sometimes ones they have lived with a while. Any wound attracts them and they will peck and peck until the injury is very much more severe or even kill them.

Your best chance is adding all the chickens to a new run all at once. If you must introduce extra birds do it at night so they wake up together. Really try never to just introduce a single bird.

We started off having them as pets, but came to the conclusion you can't get too attached. The best solution is to buy as many as you want at point of lay, keep them ~2 years until they stop laying daily (they lay through first winter) then kill them all, rest the run and replace next year.

We've had groups of 2 to about 60 over the years. Don't get attached. Lovely eggs.

And you WILL get rats - 100%.