Bloody comb. Help!

[KayNova]

Hey everyone. I need some help with one of my girls please. I went to close up the coop for the night and saw one of my them had blood on it's face. She was just hanging out on a lower roost not being attacked by anyone so I'm not exactly sure what happened. I brought her inside and wiped her down with a warm cloth. The blood was coming from her comb. I seemed to have stopped the bleeding for the most part. I used some Neosporin on it as well. Right now she is in our bathroom in a large dog kennel. It's going to be -10 tonight and I'm nervous that if it starts bleeding again it'll freeze to her and cause more damage. Or if it bleeds again I don't want the others pecking at her. I have a couple of questions here.
1. Will she be ok going from very cold temps to a warm house for a night? I plan to move her back outside tomorrow if she looks good. Hopefully it won't shock her being moved back and forth from warm to cold?
2. One night won't cause any disruption with the rest of the flock Right? We don't have any room to keep her in the coop unless I keep her in the kennel on the floor which I don't feel comfortable doing. When I bring her back out tomorrow they won't bother her because she was away for a night will they?
3. Would you all keep her seperate? I put some newspaper, straw food and water. Also gave her a small piece of wood through the metal so she can kind of roost haha.

Any suggestions, let me have them! I'm new to this. I've ad them since May and this is my first injury as a new chicken mom

 

[azygous]

Be reassured, a bit of comb bleeding is very minor. Comb injuries are a lot like scalp injuries in humans - a lot of blood and drama, and no real big deal. Your chicken probably had a minor disagreement with another hen, and her comb got bit. It happens regularly in chicken world.

Your little patient would do much better sleeping in the coop than in a warm house. She's apt to suffer from heat shock if she stays indoors. You will notice her temperature rising by the cherry red appearance of her facial tissue and comb (minus the blood stains.) This is a signal that her system is stressed by the extreme temperature differential.

As long as the bleeding has stopped, it should be pretty much scabbed over by morning. If there's still some bleeding, just dust it with a bit of corn starch. The ointment is fine. I usually use Blu-kote to treat a minor injury and to disguise the wound from the flock.

By morning, no one will notice it.

 

[KayNova]

Be reassured, a bit of comb bleeding is very minor. Comb injuries are a lot like scalp injuries in humans - a lot of blood and drama, and no real big deal. Your chicken probably had a minor disagreement with another hen, and her comb got bit. It happens regularly in chicken world.

Your little patient would do much better sleeping in the coop than in a warm house. She's apt to suffer from heat shock if she stays indoors. You will notice her temperature rising by the cherry red appearance of her facial tissue and comb (minus the blood stains.) This is a signal that her system is stressed by the extreme temperature differential.

As long as the bleeding has stopped, it should be pretty much scabbed over by morning. If there's still some bleeding, just dust it with a bit of corn starch. The ointment is fine. I usually use Blu-kote to treat a minor injury and to disguise the wound from the flock.

By morning, no one will notice it.

Great, thank you! I didn' know I could use corn starch. I did read about blue kote. I will have to pick some up for future injuries. The bleeding has stopped but maybe I'll add a bit of starch to be sure. I'l take her back outside. Thank you! I was so worried.

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[aart]

I've found it best to leave comb wounds alone,
they can bleed a lot but stop pretty quickly on their own.
Cornstarch is a good bleed-stop, I use it if needed on my dogs at nail clipping time.
Blukote, and I imagine cornstarch remnants, on chickens can attract more pecking attention than the blood alone.

 

[KayNova]

I've found it best to leave comb wounds alone,
they can bleed a lot but stop pretty quickly on their own.
Cornstarch is a good bleed-stop, I use it if needed on my dogs at nail clipping time.
Blukote, and I imagine cornstarch remnants, on chickens can attract more pecking attention than the blood alone.

I probably wouldn't have messed with it so much if it was warmer weather. Or at least not -10. It was flowing for a few minutes and I didn't want it to freeze to her face. I think she might be getting picked on though. She was the only one to not jump down off the roost this morning until I went in. There were a few eggs broken and being eaten so I took an egg and cracked it open and let her eat it. Another girl ran over and tried to push her out of the way instead of sharing like most seem to do. I' way too sensitive about this situation! I just want to bring her inside and cuddle her forever. My husband would kill me!
Anyway, I have him checking on her today. What do I do if they keep messing with her?

 

[azygous]

It's natural for us to want to protect the chicken that seems to be getting shoved around by the others, but when we do, often it makes things worse.

Chicken society organizes itself from the strongest down to the weakest. At any given time, one chicken will be at the bottom. However, it may not always be the same individual. Take encouragement from the fact that the pecking order is always changing.

I've watched the chicken at the very bottom, picked on, bloodied, feathers tattered from being snatched and bitten, move to the very top of the flock in ranking. It didn't happen overnight, but she eventually got there.

Meanwhile, keep watch over your little girl. If she becomes withdrawn and refuses to leave the coop, preferring to hide there all day instead of mingling with the flock, or if she appears not to be eating, you may need to give her a bit of help.

I recently had to do this with a six-year old hen who has been shoved all the way down to the bottom of the pecking order. She was losing weight and hid out in the coop all day. I have a "jail" section in the run where I put her during the day. This permitted her to eat in peace and regain weight. She roosted with the others at night, though.

It also gave her a sanctuary from being bullied, and she was able to regain her self confidence. After a week or so, I began forcing her to deal with the pecking order again for a few hours a day, gradually increasing the duration. She found out she could handle it, and now she's back in the general population, although I let her eat her breakfast some mornings in the jail.

Taking your little victim out of the flock, removing her from their sight, is the worst thing you could do for her. If you need to intervene, you need to do it in a way where she's still in the flock.

 

[aart]

Yeah, I understand...-10F is cold.
I am assuming you are in the US and using Fahrenheit.
-10C is not so bad.

Not sure about the bullying.....first is to look at space and feed.
Crowding and low protein/nutrition can cause chickens to get cranky and eat each other.
Not really eat each other, as in cannibalism,
but feathers and blood are tasty protein packed 'treats'.

Knowing more about :
your flock size(numbers, ages, genders),
your coop(size in feet by feet with pics),
and what and how exactly you are feeding,
might offer clues to if there is a solvable problem.

 

[KayNova]

It's natural for us to want to protect the chicken that seems to be getting shoved around by the others, but when we do, often it makes things worse.

Chicken society organizes itself from the strongest down to the weakest. At any given time, one chicken will be at the bottom. However, it may not always be the same individual. Take encouragement from the fact that the pecking order is always changing.

I've watched the chicken at the very bottom, picked on, bloodied, feathers tattered from being snatched and bitten, move to the very top of the flock in ranking. It didn't happen overnight, but she eventually got there.

Meanwhile, keep watch over your little girl. If she becomes withdrawn and refuses to leave the coop, preferring to hide there all day instead of mingling with the flock, or if she appears not to be eating, you may need to give her a bit of help.

I recently had to do this with a six-year old hen who has been shoved all the way down to the bottom of the pecking order. She was losing weight and hid out in the coop all day. I have a "jail" section in the run where I put her during the day. This permitted her to eat in peace and regain weight. She roosted with the others at night, though.

It also gave her a sanctuary from being bullied, and she was able to regain her self confidence. After a week or so, I began forcing her to deal with the pecking order again for a few hours a day, gradually increasing the duration. She found out she could handle it, and now she's back in the general population, although I let her eat her breakfast some mornings in the jail.

Taking your little victim out of the flock, removing her from their sight, is the worst thing you could do for her. If you need to intervene, you need to do it in a way where she's still in the flock.

It's natural for us to want to protect the chicken that seems to be getting shoved around by the others, but when we do, often it makes things worse.

Chicken society organizes itself from the strongest down to the weakest. At any given time, one chicken will be at the bottom. However, it may not always be the same individual. Take encouragement from the fact that the pecking order is always changing.

I've watched the chicken at the very bottom, picked on, bloodied, feathers tattered from being snatched and bitten, move to the very top of the flock in ranking. It didn't happen overnight, but she eventually got there.

Meanwhile, keep watch over your little girl. If she becomes withdrawn and refuses to leave the coop, preferring to hide there all day instead of mingling with the flock, or if she appears not to be eating, you may need to give her a bit of help.

I recently had to do this with a six-year old hen who has been shoved all the way down to the bottom of the pecking order. She was losing weight and hid out in the coop all day. I have a "jail" section in the run where I put her during the day. This permitted her to eat in peace and regain weight. She roosted with the others at night, though.

It also gave her a sanctuary from being bullied, and she was able to regain her self confidence. After a week or so, I began forcing her to deal with the pecking order again for a few hours a day, gradually increasing the duration. She found out she could handle it, and now she's back in the general population, although I let her eat her breakfast some mornings in the jail.

Taking your little victim out of the flock, removing her from their sight, is the worst thing you could do for her. If you need to intervene, you need to do it in a way where she's still in the flock.

Got it! We were going to keep her inside overnight but then I read about keeping them apart being a bad decision. Luckily, they were only apart for about an hour. Your answer was very encouraging. Thank you for explaining that for me. I didn't know that the order changed! I thought it was one way always. I will keep an eye on her. I'll have to figure out some sort of jail in our coop. The problem is they hate going out in the run with snow on the ground. I figure I'll get a tarp to cover the run so it doesn't get snowy for them. Sitting in the coop all day probably irritates them as it is. Thanks again for explaining that for me. I had no idea that pecking order changed. Makes me feel a lot better

 

[KayNova]

Y

Yeah, I understand...-10F is cold.
I am assuming you are in the US and using Fahrenheit.
-10C is not so bad.

Not sure about the bullying.....first is to look at space and feed.
Crowding and low protein/nutrition can cause chickens to get cranky and eat each other.
Not really eat each other, as in cannibalism,
but feathers and blood are tasty protein packed 'treats'.

Knowing more about :
your flock size(numbers, ages, genders),
your coop(size in feet by feet with pics),
and what and how exactly you are feeding,
might offer clues to if there is a solvable problem.

Haha yes, -10F. I'm in Wisconsin. It'll get up to 12 I think today. But cold again tonight. 12 isn't too bad. We have 8 chickens. Their coop is rather large for 8 chickens. At least for what I've seen. But people around where I live don't live chickens the way I do. They don't really care or worry too much about their housing. I on the other hand constantly worry about if it' too hot or too cold. Should I leave the door open to the run or closed. Food inside or out. Ugh. I was saying in another reply that they hate going outside in snow. I' going to pick up some tarps to cover the run area. I feel like they may be getting irritated sitting in the coop together all day when there is snow on the ground. I've een throwing mealworms on the straw floor so they have something to look for during the day but i feel like they're getting bored. I feed them an organic layers mix I get from nelsons ag. It' in a white bag with green writing. Sometimes I give them veggies. What else should I be doing? I will post pictures of the coop when I get home. Oh, I do leave the coop door half open on days like today. Enough for them to get in and out and for there to be ventilation but hopefully enough to keep some of the frosty weather out. Anything you can recommend would be fantastic. Food or activities?
Also, sorry for spelling errors. My phone acts weird when I reply on these forums for some reason and leaves off letters.
Thank you so much!