Is this a pecking injury or could it just be a comb injury?

yls

In the Brooder
Dec 17, 2022
19
8
14
Is there any way this is a comb injury or does this seem like a pecking injury? (As we do have chicken wire over our pen....we got it from TSC and we thought the slats were too large...so we reinforced with extra security. THere are some sharp edges where the wire is cut and by the door. So is there any possibility it is unrelated to a chicken?) If not we have a bully. (A few weeks ago there was something on her comb, a minor injury, we never saw it being pecked...but on Blue Kote and seemed fine). THis hen we think is #2 on the pecking order. So there is only 1 hen above her. But she could be pecking her? (In general we didn't have much pecking........these are docile breeds that are supposed to get along....welsummer, barred rock, speckled sussex. We did have recent feather picking and eating.....nothing like bald spots or anything. Just some would pick feathers off another and eat. So I researched that and it seemed like they needed more protein. Seems like this can happen in winter. So I gave them some meat. I also bought a higher protein % food. I tried fish pellets, catfish pellets as that is high protein. Put that out yesterday on the ground, they didn't seem to love it, not sure if they didn't know what to do as it was round pellets....mine normally eat crumble. I also just bought a hen block for them......so I was thinking a possible deficiency and/or possible being bored?? They were picking feathers yesterday. My kids were with them and I was asking if they thought possibly bored as well.....we think a combo as the ground was frozen and they couldn't scratch in it. So maybe sometimes bored at times. THey do not free range. They have a run. So I wasn't sure what was causing the feather eating issue, it could be a variety of factors and that is why I bought things to address it but was just going to implement. Side note they are 6 months tomorrow....we just got our very first egg yesterday! Not sure if that can impact anything or indicate they need anything else in their diet? Regardless I wouldn't think this should impact the comb?? This seems very different from feather eating)
SO for now I have this hen inside in a dog crate, put on Blue Kote. I don't want to isolate long as they can have issues getting reintegrated or she loses her spot on the pecking order. Plus i don't see how she will enjoy being inside a dog crate for long? Now if I see the other one doing this I read that you take the bully and isolate them. But I'm not even 100% sure what caused this. What do you think? And how would you address? The issue is our coop is not super huge....there is no way to separate them within the same coop and pen. That would be ideal as at least they wouldn't forget each other( and cause more issues down the road.)
Any advice is appreciated!
 

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It looks to me like she got it caught on something more than a pecking issue.

You can apply triple antibiotic ointment without pain reliever to help ward off infection. When you put her back with the flock the blu-kote will help stop the curious from pecking her red spots and causing further injury.
 
Thank you for your thoughts! When you say triple antibiotic ointment without pain reliever is that specific to chickens or are you referring to something like neosporin?
Do you think I can put her back soon? As I don't want her to lose her spot as #2 and end up on the bottom on 5 somehow and pecked on/disrupt the pecking order (in case it really isn't a bullying issue....it would be much better IMO if she got caught on something. I would have to figure out what though!)
 
Yes Neosporin or a store brand equivalent (much cheaper that way). Just not anything with lidocaine or the caine family of pain relievers. There is unclear info on whether it's harmful to poultry so best avoided in my opinion.

I think as long as it's not actively bleeding and you use blu-kote or Peck-no-more she can go back tomorrow evening. While gruesome looking it's certainly not bad enough for long term separation.
 
Yes Neosporin or a store brand equivalent (much cheaper that way). Just not anything with lidocaine or the caine family of pain relievers. There is unclear info on whether it's harmful to poultry so best avoided in my opinion.

I think as long as it's not actively bleeding and you use blu-kote or Peck-no-more she can go back tomorrow evening. While gruesome looking it's certainly not bad enough for long term separation.
Ok, thank you so much!!
 

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