Help! Injured hen!

[SarahInAlaska]

Not sure how protected from the weather she is or how old. As long as she is fully feathered, a tarp to protect from cold winds should keep her warm enough if it doesn't get too cold. Try to put the kennel where it won't get cross winds.

She is over a year old and laying eggs. The run is behind the greenhouse and pretty shaded from the wind and we are supposed to have good weather through next weekend so I'll get a tarp out there for at night. It's staying around 35* at night and over 50* during the day so she should be fine I would think.

 

[ellie32526]

She is over a year old and laying eggs. The run is behind the greenhouse and pretty shaded from the wind and we are supposed to have good weather through next weekend so I'll get a tarp out there for at night. It's staying around 35* at night and over 50* during the day so she should be fine I would think.

I think so too. How is she doing today? Hope she is doing better.

 

[SarahInAlaska]

We kept her out there for a bit but the noise got to be too much. She squawked and sqwalled. We decided to try introducing in the run since the wound was mostly healed and the nighttime coop introduction didn't work. They were fine all day until right before bed and one of my leghorns reamed her bad (im assuming it was her since her beak was covered in blood and none of the other girls were.) So at this point I finally found some blue Kote and we are just going to keep her in the garage until she's fully healed and feathered back in. She seems to prefer it anyway as the only time she has laid has been in the kennel in there.

 

[ellie32526]

We kept her out there for a bit but the noise got to be too much. She squawked and sqwalled. We decided to try introducing in the run since the wound was mostly healed and the nighttime coop introduction didn't work. They were fine all day until right before bed and one of my leghorns reamed her bad (im assuming it was her since her beak was covered in blood and none of the other girls were.) So at this point I finally found some blue Kote and we are just going to keep her in the garage until she's fully healed and feathered back in. She seems to prefer it anyway as the only time she has laid has been in the kennel in there.

I am so sorry this has happened to you and your hen. I hate to think that this is a permanent situation. Perhaps that is why the other lady got rid of her. Are you prepared to keep two separate flocks?

You said she is a Marans and the one that attacked her was a Leghorn, they don't seem to be particularly aggressive breeds. Are they crowded?. I think my White Rocks were attacked because the space I had them in was a little crowded. Since I have moved them into the henhouse where they have lots of room, they have not had any trouble.

Keep us updated on the progress. I'd like to know how this turns out.

 

[SarahInAlaska]

Our coop and run are built to the space recommendations but the place we got them from was not. She had been bullied at her previous home and came to us injured. I think we just didn't give her enough time to heal from her injuries before introducing her to the rest of the flock. And she is the only one getting bullied and pecked at. We will keep her inside until she is completely healed and feathered back in and see about reintroducing her then. If for some reason the entire flock still does not want her we will either cull her or rehome her since we cannot have two separate flocks on the space we have.

 

[ellie32526]

Our coop and run are built to the space recommendations but the place we got them from was not. She had been bullied at her previous home and came to us injured. I think we just didn't give her enough time to heal from her injuries before introducing her to the rest of the flock. And she is the only one getting bullied and pecked at. We will keep her inside until she is completely healed and feathered back in and see about reintroducing her then. If for some reason the entire flock still does not want her we will either cull her or rehome her since we cannot have two separate flocks on the space we have.

Sounds like you have it under control. I hope it works out well.

 

[janelle18]

I find bully hens are really hard to re-introduce. The other birds sense the weakness and are mean to them. The bully birds usually don't 'fight back' which means they just get hurt. I had one hen and this was the case with her, she got beat up and lost a bunch of feathers, when they grew back I put her back in and by the next morning she had lost all her feathers again and was in rough shape. She would get herself in a corner and just cower there which gave the other hens easy access. It was sad.

 

[SarahInAlaska]

I find bully hens are really hard to re-introduce. The other birds sense the weakness and are mean to them. The bully birds usually don't 'fight back' which means they just get hurt. I had one hen and this was the case with her, she got beat up and lost a bunch of feathers, when they grew back I put her back in and by the next morning she had lost all her feathers again and was in rough shape. She would get herself in a corner and just cower there which gave the other hens easy access. It was sad. 

That is so sad! I hope we get lucky and can make it work!

 

[ellie32526]

That is so sad! I hope we get lucky and can make it work!

I really hope you have great success reintegrating this hen after she is healed. I know how heart breaking it is when one is injured and you are doing all you can to save that one. I spent $45 on my chick that didn't even cost me $3 to try to get her well. Everybody said I should just cull her and buy another chick. But I didn't want to give up on her. She is doing well now, so it was a good investment. Think positive thoughts. Keep me updated. We'll hope together.

 

[SarahInAlaska]

We had her separated or inside for over a week this second time. Her wound had healed over and was almost fleshy. We'd applied blue Kote to aid in healing. Before allowing her back out we reapplied to make sure any pink flesh left didn't show. We reintegrated at night. By morning she was a bloody mess. We've decided to remove her and our oldest hen who's been the biggest pecker and isnt laying anyways from the flock and replace them with some young black copper Marans. It sucks but it has to be done.