Araucana thread anyone?

My favorite double tufted hen has been severely injured by her mate! I should have taken a "before" picture of the wound before I sutured it up! Poor thing. I've had chickens for years and have seen young cockerels really injure a hens head and rip holes in the skin etc. But THIS! I've never seen a head wound so bad. Her head skin was literally ripped across to fall down her neck similar to a turtleneck sweater (in the back)! I had no choice as to get out a needle and thread etc. My question is not how to care for this as I do know how....but my question is in regards to the the Araucana itself.

***Is this a common breeding occurrence?***
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I have 1 roo on 6 hens and some of the hens heads are balding from the matings....I hope it won't happen to any others.

Thanks!
 
Not common breeding experience but I do get it from time to time with hens pecking each other and one that wont fight back. I have a pullet that had the exact head wound and I left it alone except for antibiotic ointment and moving her to a pen by herself. That was a month ago and she is almost reading to go back with other chickens. I have a hen that another hen pecked her feathers until there was a sizable hole where you could see bone. I did the same treatment and she will be ready to go back in with chickens in a couple of weeks. I have found the offending hen and she is no longer with us. It pisses me off. Its like its a nervous disorder or something. I have never had a problem with feather picking until this year. I bought quite a few new birds last year and a few are feather pickers but not that bad.


Lanae
 
Oh no! I once had a turken pullet that had almost the same thing happen, hers was from something trying to pull her thru the wire when she was little. Skin was ripped almost all the way around. She healed fine, had to pop off the scabs a few times because they where to tight. I have also had a hen get scalped by a roo, she also healed, hers took longer though.
I just sprayed them with Vetericyn VF (vet formula), its 2 or 3x stronger than the feed store one, so its also more expensive, also you can only get it from a vet.

If the skin came lose from the neck, you need to watch for infection, esp if you closed it. The skin may die off if its blood supply was cut off/separated.
 
Not common breeding experience but I do get it from time to time with hens pecking each other and one that wont fight back. I have a pullet that had the exact head wound and I left it alone except for antibiotic ointment and moving her to a pen by herself. That was a month ago and she is almost reading to go back with other chickens. I have a hen that another hen pecked her feathers until there was a sizable hole where you could see bone. I did the same treatment and she will be ready to go back in with chickens in a couple of weeks. I have found the offending hen and she is no longer with us. It pisses me off. Its like its a nervous disorder or something. I have never had a problem with feather picking until this year. I bought quite a few new birds last year and a few are feather pickers but not that bad.


Lanae
Thanks Lanae,

This helps me!

Perhaps it WAS a hen as I didn't see it happen. There is one hen I need to keep my eye on that has "tuft envy!"
 
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What is in this picture taken with my blurry iPod touch camera? They're Araucana eggs! The first of the season I will try hatching. If I have a good rate of hatch, I'll be sending out some test batches to willing BYCers to see fertility rates after being shipped (free eggs, just cost of shipping).

They're all from blue/black/splash birds :D
 
download



What is in this picture taken with my blurry iPod touch camera? They're Araucana eggs! The first of the season I will try hatching. If I have a good rate of hatch, I'll be sending out some test batches to willing BYCers to see fertility rates after being shipped (free eggs, just cost of shipping).

They're all from blue/black/splash birds :D
How Exciting!! Im happy for you! Id love to get in line on your test hatch :)
 

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