Barred Rock, one eye closed, wing hanging-what's wrong?

[Dutchess]

I have five chickens, one of each- Barred Rock, Red Star, Silver-laced Wyandotte, Cuckoo Maran and Columbian Wyandotte. They are in an 8x12 foot run with a 6x4 foot coop, plenty of room for five chickens, feed and water always available. Never had any problems before.
Last night I noticed that the CW and SLW were picking on the BR, chasing her around and grabbing/biting her comb/neck area, STEPPING ON HER! When I picked her up and looked at her she had blood around her nose area, probably from the "wrestling"

. I set her back down and noticed her left wing was kinda droopy, then right away the two bullies were back at her, so I isolated her in a nice quiet dark room in a comfy dog crate with shavings, food and water. She seems okay (acting normal) except for the shut eye and wing. BTW it's her right eye and left wing so they are opposite sides of the body...and she has no signs of mites or any other pest problems.
One eye is shut and the other looks kinda half closed. No draining, no yellow guck, no swelling, but I did notice a little bump above her eye up near the comb about the size of a BB. The wing could be hurt from the combat she has been enduring. They are SO MEAN! I hate that part of chickens!
Anyone have any ideas what could be happening to my poor little BR (she's will be a year old around the 20th of this month).
I am at work all day and don't get home until about 4:45. I checked on her this morning before I left and she looked very happy, just laying there looking at me with her one open eye - poor baby. I will take a pic and upload it when I get home, that may help.
I want to help her in any way I can, I'm just not very experienced with a hurt chicken.
I have read here about the antibiotics and treatments so I will be picking up something like Duramicyn or Tylan. Anyone have any ideas which would be better?
Thank you for any advice you can give me, all you BYC'rs are GREAT !! I don't know what I would do without you all !

 

[dawg53]

It might be a pecking order issue they are dealing with. It sounds like she got beat up badly and pecked near the eye, wing injured as well during the scuffle. Once she became injured, the others picked up on it and lit into her worse. I think for now that the best thing would be to put terramycin eye ointment or neosporin in her eye to prevent an infection and give her comfort support. Putting her in a cage or crate with food and water, giving her wing time to heal is best. You dont want her out there flapping her wings trying to escape from the others. That could cause further injury to the wing. Once healed, you'll have the problem of reintroducing her with the others. Catch the ringleader and cage her for a week, that will knock her down the pecking order.

 

[sjm1722]

not to discourage you but I had a chicken with a very similar problem, her wing was hanging and her eye was closed on one side intially, eventually in about three days her toungue started hanging out and she couldn't swallowed, based on her signs and sympotoms I believe it was botulism. She died shortly after. I'm including a link to page on the website that should help :
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism


The reasons she may have seemed like she was beat up is because chickens will often peck a wounded or weaker flock member. If your chicken seems to get better over 2 or 3 days then it most likely is not botulism!! hope this helps and she's okay.

 

[Dutchess]

Thank you so much dawg53 and sjm1722, I really appreciate your replies.
I hope it's not botulism, but it very well could be, although I wouldn't know where it came from. Thank you for the link! Very interesting...I will take care of her with the antibiotics, and rest her for as long as she needs it. Oh, and thank you for the advice on the pecking order, I forgot about that part! I will have to figure out who the "ring leader" is.

 

[Dutchess]

Update on my BR. She is still in the dog crate, not eating or drinking much. I wormed her yesterday with the rest of the flock, hoping that is her problem. I believe I saw a worm in her feces.
Her eyes are looking a little better, one is still open and the other is about quarter to half open. It's been a week today with not much change. She is standing and a little more responsive, but doesn't seem to care about getting out of the crate. I'm not sure where to go from here except keep her in quarentine and wait. Any other suggestions? Thank you to all for your help and expertise!
Kim

 

[Dutchess]

I'm bumping this up because I need guidance. It will be two weeks tomorrow that my BR is in quarentine. I took her outside yesterday afternoon to see if she had any other symptoms. She was acting pretty normal, except her wing is still down and every once in a while she would kinda cock her head to one side. What causes that?
When she was outside she was acting like a chicken scratching around and such.
When I went to bring her back inside she did not want me to catch her. It took me about 5 mins chasing her around, I thought she might have a heart attack or something, but she was fine.
She is now eating and drinking.
She has not laid an egg since she's been in the dog crate.
Her eyes don't look normal yet. They are both open, but half shut and just a little puffy.
Her comb and wattles are kinda pale, but did perk up in color when we went outside.
I intend to worm them all again within the week.
Is it strange for her to not lay? I don't know where to go from here except worm her again and see if that helps.