- Mar 4, 2011
- 958
- 16
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I have a hen that, after going broody for awhile, the rooster started attacking. At first he was just chasing her off, then he started aiming the occasional peck at her, but nothing terrible. There were no problems prior to her going broody. Today when I went to lock them up, she wasn't in the coop. I finally lured her out of the woods with a bowl of pasta, and the back of her head and neck are super torn up, a bloody mess.
I have her inside in a scrubbed out cat carrier for the moment, with food and water, and hopefully tomorrow I can figure out something with a little more space to keep her in.
I have two main questions, the first being wound care:
I'm not sure right now how much skin is ripped off, my main concern is one spot that looked like a small hole pulsing up blood, which may or may not be the main source of all the blood. It made me worried to try to clean it much though, I was afraid to flush it with water with that wide open and bubbling. I dabbed her all up, and dabbed on some triple antibiotic ointment. (That's all I had right now, and it is late so nothing is open. I could pick something else up tomorrow.) Any recommendations on what I should be doing to care for her wounds? I can take pictures if that would help, but it is, of course, pretty gross. Am I likely to need some sort of cone to keep her from scratching at it?
Secondly, reintroduction:
If anyone has had experience with this situation, were you able to successfully reintroduce the hen? She's not had any issue with the other hens, but I wonder if the rooster will ever stop? I will obviously keep her isolated until she is healed up, and keep them separated when I bring her back to the coop for a bit, but I am worried about him doing it again. I am not really sure why he began having a problem with her in the first place. Any ideas?
Thank you very much in advance to anyone who has some suggestions for me.
I have her inside in a scrubbed out cat carrier for the moment, with food and water, and hopefully tomorrow I can figure out something with a little more space to keep her in.
I have two main questions, the first being wound care:
I'm not sure right now how much skin is ripped off, my main concern is one spot that looked like a small hole pulsing up blood, which may or may not be the main source of all the blood. It made me worried to try to clean it much though, I was afraid to flush it with water with that wide open and bubbling. I dabbed her all up, and dabbed on some triple antibiotic ointment. (That's all I had right now, and it is late so nothing is open. I could pick something else up tomorrow.) Any recommendations on what I should be doing to care for her wounds? I can take pictures if that would help, but it is, of course, pretty gross. Am I likely to need some sort of cone to keep her from scratching at it?
Secondly, reintroduction:
If anyone has had experience with this situation, were you able to successfully reintroduce the hen? She's not had any issue with the other hens, but I wonder if the rooster will ever stop? I will obviously keep her isolated until she is healed up, and keep them separated when I bring her back to the coop for a bit, but I am worried about him doing it again. I am not really sure why he began having a problem with her in the first place. Any ideas?
Thank you very much in advance to anyone who has some suggestions for me.