2 Smallest Chicks Bottoms & Vents Pecked & Bloody? HELP

[ChickenGypsy23]

Hello we have 8 Lavender Orpingtons.. about 6 or 7 weeks old. We got them all at the same time and they were about a week old. We havn't really had any problems, they have been happy and healthy and secure living together inside. They spent some time outside during the day and moved in officially to their coop and run 2 nites ago. When we came home today, we noticed that the two smallest chicks had their bottoms pecked clean and were bloody .. the vent seems to maybe be out-turned too?

They were separated immediately.. but I'm wondering WHY? this happened .. and what to do next?

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) - Lavender Orpington (2 birds), age = 6 -7 weeks old, MUCH MUCH smaller than the rest of the flock.. about a 1/3 of the size of others and SO far behind on developing feathers... the rest of flock has been fully feathered for a while
2) What is the behavior, exactly. - Legs shaking when picked up .. they seem "shook up"
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? For a few hours today
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. - Feathers are pecked off of bottom, raw, bloody, vent appears to be turned out.. Or perhaps swollen from trauma?
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Boyfriend claims the other chickens were pecking these ones , but I'm not sure if he actually witnessed this or just presumed
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. - Seems to be eating and drinking ok
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. - Have not seen any yet? .. Will update when I do
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? - These chicks were separated immediately from the rest of the flock, I have not touched the injured region though as of yet, as I want to find the best method first
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? I would like to just take care of the birds myself..
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. I do not have one at the moment, but I will try to take one and post an update
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use - The chicks were outside, grassy run with a log for a roost, food and water readily available when this incident occurred .. They have now been moved back into our cozy foyer, baby pool with pine shaving bedding , food and water readily available here too .. (this was where they lived for weeks before moving outside 2 days ago)


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have already done quite a bit of reading and researching but hoping someone can help this situation in particular... [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]** NOTE - we do not know which ones are the hens and the roosters yet .. we have 8 total .. and these two runts are the same age and have not been developing (They were the victims).. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]THANKS IN ADVANCE [/FONT]

 

[upmycreek]

If you could post a picture it would help, but if I were to guess it sounds like your boyfriend was probably right on because chicks seem to peck at anything that is out of place looking so if your two little chicks were distressed from either being backed up with a slight prolapsed vent which will become red and swollen then they will peck it to pieces. Definitely try and keep their pecked areas clean... I don't know what the best cleaner to use as I have not had a bird with a serious cut yet, but I am sure that is an easy search on this forum. If their vents are prolapsed I have had good success with apply Preparation H to their vents to assist the swelling to go down. I have also read where people have applied triple antibiotic ointment to vent abrasions, but please search this before using just to make sure it is ok to use the triple antibiotic... preparation h is fine.

 

[KFaye]

You might want to separate the two from the flock to let them heal. blu-kote the red areas if you have some.

 

[Chickinlittle1]

Kind of young for strictly prolapse. Usually prolapse happens on hens that have been laying awhile. I have had to treat prolapse & had to push the tissue(via sterilized finger cot or rubber glove lubricated wirth Prep. H.) & "gently" push the prolapse back in. I then treated 3-4 days with the Prep H. & making sure you get it BOTH Internal/External.
You may want to take a Magnifier & make SURE they don't have Fowl Mites. I agree separate them asap. Fowl mites feed on Blood & will primarily attack the Rear end of the Hen which will cause scabs/blood. However, I would think that your other Flock members would be showing similar signs. I DID have a Rooster get these buggers first(caught during a Hawk attack) & it took longer for the others to show signs. This is a real nightmare so that is why its worth checking! It took me 2 YRS to get it handled!
T.C.,Luciana M.A.

 

[ChickenGypsy23]

Thanks for your responses! Definitely not prolapse.. I have had these two in the house for over a week now and just made an attempt this morning to reintegrate them to the flock. Almost within a minute of me putting them back into the run, they were being bullied again. I was really hoping things would have gotten better... But back into the house they go until we figure something else out..

The good thing is, they are healing up well.. I've been keeping them clean and applied Neosporin upon the first day of the incident.. I'm surprised at how quickly feathers are starting to come back again.. Any thoughts whether you think these two might be the roosters? I still am having a hard time figuring this out.. they are about 7-8 weeks old now..