I have gotten to the point where I'm realizing I was truly insane for thinking I could care for 22 chicks this early in my chicken raising. I feel absolutely horrible about my apparent mistake that lead to one of my chicks getting pecked extremely badly. Here's my shameful story...
The six biggest, oldest chicks (about 7 weeks old) have moved out to a pen in the garage to wait for their real owner to finish building a pen for them. (I agreed to buy/raise a few chicks for my sister's friend so he didn't have to mess with keeping chicks inside since I was getting some for myself anyway.) On Saturday, 3 more of the bigger chicks (6 weeks old) moved to a pen right beside the pen that the biggest chicks were in. The pens were touching each other so the chicks from both pens would be able to see/touch/smell each other without actually being able to get to each other. I figured this was the safest way to reintroduce them so the 6 wk old chicks could move into bigger pen in the garage with the others. They were right beside each other Saturday and Sunday, so yesterday before I left for work I put the 6 wk olds in with the big meanies.
I guess 2 days of being side by side wasn't enough time to get used to each other or something, because one of the 3 smaller chicks was pecked up pretty badly when I got home yesterday. The other 2, and all 6 of the biggest chicks don't have a mark on them, I'm guessing this particular chick was just the one that everyone decided would be at the bottom of the pecking order. Anyway, she's in rough shape. She has very few feathers left on her rear end, back side of her belly, and the backs of her thighs. (Why would they attack her butt end so badly?!?) And has a couple bloody areas on her shoulders/back. Now here's the grossest, most horrible, guilt inducing part of her injuries. It looks like they may have pecked her vent area pretty badly while they were attacking her. The skin around her vent is purpleish and the white part of her poo (I guess it's really more like pee right?) just oozes out of her vent and down her little backside all the time. She's obviously in pain, she won't lay down to sleep, she just stands there with her feathers puffed up and her head tucked down onto her chest. I cleaned her backside up with a mix of warm water and iodine, and put her in a cage by herself with a heat lamp. She'll drink a little water on her own, but it seems like she actually knows that eating/drinking is just going to lead to more stuff coming out and hurting her backside so she's not drinking much. She's alert, she'll peep when I pick her up and tries (a little) to get away while I'm cleaning her backside.
I know pecking is the natural way of establishing the flock so I shouldn't be too upset with the bigger chicks and really blame myself for thinking they were ready to be back together - though obviously it wasn't a big deal for the other two. All rational thought aside, I'm ticked off at those big meanie chicks and I'm VERY ready to send them to their new home!!
So, what else is there that I can do for this chick? Should I be doing anything to clean her vent area other than gently dabbing it with a wash cloth soaked in the warm water solution? I obviously don't want to poke around her vent too much and cause more damage, but if I need to poke around I will. It does look like there's some of the actual poo in her vent, like the dark part not the white. I really feel terrible, I've had a rotten chicken week so far and it's only Tuesday! (One of my chicks crawled inside the feeder Saturday night and shaved the feathers and skin off his back and shoulders. He's doing fine down, just wants to be back in with the rest of the chicks. Last night I had a hen run away because she had gotten out of the pen and couldn't figure out how to get back in once it got dark and the rest of the girls went back to the coop to roost. I walked around in the woods in the pouring rain with a flashlight looking and calling for her for about 30 minutes. Then we found her sitting on the front porch!)
Any suggestions of other things I should try with this chickie? Or should I just stick with what I'm doing and hope she gets better on her own....or should I consider calling the vet to see if they can put her out of her misery when I take my "puppy" in for his "happy birthday neutering" on Thursday? The vet doesn't treat chickens, but if she has to be put out of her misery I'm not going to be able to do it. I can clean poopy butts until I barf, but I can't purposefully kill something.
The six biggest, oldest chicks (about 7 weeks old) have moved out to a pen in the garage to wait for their real owner to finish building a pen for them. (I agreed to buy/raise a few chicks for my sister's friend so he didn't have to mess with keeping chicks inside since I was getting some for myself anyway.) On Saturday, 3 more of the bigger chicks (6 weeks old) moved to a pen right beside the pen that the biggest chicks were in. The pens were touching each other so the chicks from both pens would be able to see/touch/smell each other without actually being able to get to each other. I figured this was the safest way to reintroduce them so the 6 wk old chicks could move into bigger pen in the garage with the others. They were right beside each other Saturday and Sunday, so yesterday before I left for work I put the 6 wk olds in with the big meanies.
I guess 2 days of being side by side wasn't enough time to get used to each other or something, because one of the 3 smaller chicks was pecked up pretty badly when I got home yesterday. The other 2, and all 6 of the biggest chicks don't have a mark on them, I'm guessing this particular chick was just the one that everyone decided would be at the bottom of the pecking order. Anyway, she's in rough shape. She has very few feathers left on her rear end, back side of her belly, and the backs of her thighs. (Why would they attack her butt end so badly?!?) And has a couple bloody areas on her shoulders/back. Now here's the grossest, most horrible, guilt inducing part of her injuries. It looks like they may have pecked her vent area pretty badly while they were attacking her. The skin around her vent is purpleish and the white part of her poo (I guess it's really more like pee right?) just oozes out of her vent and down her little backside all the time. She's obviously in pain, she won't lay down to sleep, she just stands there with her feathers puffed up and her head tucked down onto her chest. I cleaned her backside up with a mix of warm water and iodine, and put her in a cage by herself with a heat lamp. She'll drink a little water on her own, but it seems like she actually knows that eating/drinking is just going to lead to more stuff coming out and hurting her backside so she's not drinking much. She's alert, she'll peep when I pick her up and tries (a little) to get away while I'm cleaning her backside.
I know pecking is the natural way of establishing the flock so I shouldn't be too upset with the bigger chicks and really blame myself for thinking they were ready to be back together - though obviously it wasn't a big deal for the other two. All rational thought aside, I'm ticked off at those big meanie chicks and I'm VERY ready to send them to their new home!!
So, what else is there that I can do for this chick? Should I be doing anything to clean her vent area other than gently dabbing it with a wash cloth soaked in the warm water solution? I obviously don't want to poke around her vent too much and cause more damage, but if I need to poke around I will. It does look like there's some of the actual poo in her vent, like the dark part not the white. I really feel terrible, I've had a rotten chicken week so far and it's only Tuesday! (One of my chicks crawled inside the feeder Saturday night and shaved the feathers and skin off his back and shoulders. He's doing fine down, just wants to be back in with the rest of the chicks. Last night I had a hen run away because she had gotten out of the pen and couldn't figure out how to get back in once it got dark and the rest of the girls went back to the coop to roost. I walked around in the woods in the pouring rain with a flashlight looking and calling for her for about 30 minutes. Then we found her sitting on the front porch!)
Any suggestions of other things I should try with this chickie? Or should I just stick with what I'm doing and hope she gets better on her own....or should I consider calling the vet to see if they can put her out of her misery when I take my "puppy" in for his "happy birthday neutering" on Thursday? The vet doesn't treat chickens, but if she has to be put out of her misery I'm not going to be able to do it. I can clean poopy butts until I barf, but I can't purposefully kill something.
