8 month old hen pecking a large wound on herself

[olebiker]

We discovered a silver dollar size wound that showed up overnight. Our nesting camera did not indicated an attack from any of the other girls. We treated it with vetericyn, allowed it to dry, then coated the wound with pek no more (blue stuff). For a while it improved with this treatment. Then, suddenly, she has been ferocious in her self pecking opening the wound and spreading it as well. What can we do????

 

[azygous]

First thing is to figure out why she's doing this to herself. Reasons why chickens peck themselves usually have to do with discomfort. That area either itches or is giving her pain. Chickens peck at the spot that hurts, literally pointing to what is giving them discomfort.

So she's telling you to examine her carefully for lumps that could be a tumor, irritated skin that could be from parasites, or an infected wound that is festering and infected, causing a lot of pain.

Look her over, parting the feathers to see if there are lice. Check the coop at night to see if coop mites are crawling up her legs and feasting on her blood.

Check the wound for signs of red skin and pus where the open sore is. That might indicate infection that might require an oral antibiotic or at least a topical antibiotic ointment in addition to the Vetericyn.

The open wound should be flushed daily with saline and kept moist with the antibiotic ointment. Don't allow it to dry out as that will slow healing and encourage bacteria.

You can give her an 81 grain chewable aspirin twice a day for pain control. Trying to get her to leave the wound alone will be a challenge, but it's likely she won't mess with it if it stops causing her so much discomfort. Getting any incipient infection under control will usually eliminate any pain.

 

[Tonyroo]

While your at it clip some of the feathers out away from wound so you can get a better look.

 

[olebiker]

Thanks for your help. Our girl is getting better and we're hoping for a full recovery. We just keep up the antiseptic spray and lathering with Peck no more.

 

[olebiker]

Tony, you wouldn't happen to be the same Tony we bought our girls from off Hi 49 Grass Valley?

 

[olebiker]

So, now it's May 5 and she still isn't completely healed. She continues to peck at the wound as well some of the other hens. We've used disinfectant spray and Pick No More with some results. As soon as we think she is healing, she starts pecking again. Anything more we should do? Thanks for your input.