Buff Orpington's comb pecked bloody

[nirtak]

Hi, we have 3 of each buff Orpington's and golden sexlinks. One but has been pecked on for a while, but today the comb was pecked bloody. It doesn't stop bleeding. She eats the bloody snow, and the others are trying to get her. I separated her, but we don't have any space to put her. The others are in the run right now while she is in our snowy backyard. It's 36 f, so not too bad.
What can i do? Do i have to remove the blood from her feathers to keep the others from pecking? If so, how? Anything else? Thank you! Of course this happens while my husband is out of town...

 

[mirandaleecon]

One of the best things to use on blood/injuries to prevent pecking is blukote. You should be able to find it at any feed store or even on Amazon. It's a disinfectant spray that dyes them blue which the other birds don't seem to care to peck like they do with blood. Just be careful because it will stain everything it touches. I recommend wearing some nitrile gloves and clothes you don't care about.

Other than that, only other thing to do would be separate them until she is healed but if you don't have the space that really won't work for you...

 

[nirtak]

Thank you so much!

I went to the feed store and got something similar. It is black/purplish.

I separated the bully from the group (she is in a cat carrier at night and free ranges during the day. I used our kids' sand table to make her a little shelter with food and water).

The injured hen spends her days and nights in a nesting box. I guess it is fine until she is healed. I'm wondering, if she would get pecked on by the other chickens, if she joined them in the run. I don't want to try it until she is healed, though.

Do you think I need to worry that she is not getting enough food and water? I'm not sure how often she actually leaves the nesting boxes.

 

[chickencrazy21]

I freaked out one morning. My alarm didnt go off so i was late letting the chickens out. It was about 10 before i woke up and realized it. The hens had hotten bored and pecked open one of the younger ones head. I could see bone and blood and the skin was almost peeled back. Called the guy we got the chicken from (local breeder said call with amy questions or emergencies) he told me first calm down and breeth. Then told me seperate and rince the head and blood off with cold water. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Hold the skin together (if no skin just make a layer) and SUPER GLUE it together. Just any old super glue didnt have to be surgical glue. My chicken iso over 2 years old now and you cant even tell. I had another chick this was done too but didnt have the skin to glue back. I kinda layered the glue like a scab. Helps heal it faster too.

 

[mirandaleecon]

Thank you so much!

I went to the feed store and got something similar. It is black/purplish.

I separated the bully from the group (she is in a cat carrier at night and free ranges during the day. I used our kids' sand table to make her a little shelter with food and water).

The injured hen spends her days and nights in a nesting box. I guess it is fine until she is healed. I'm wondering, if she would get pecked on by the other chickens, if she joined them in the run. I don't want to try it until she is healed, though. 

Do you think I need to worry that she is not getting enough food and water? I'm not sure how often she actually leaves the nesting boxes.

It sounds like she is broody, meaning she is trying to hatch eggs. How long has she been staying in the nesting box? Does she have fertile eggs to hatch? If she is broody, she will get up once or twice a day to get food/ relieve herself but if she doesn't have eggs to hatch she could stay on the nest too long. Let me know if that's the case and I'll explain how to get her to stop being broody...

 

[nirtak]

I had thought about broodiness, but these are our first chickens. So I'm completely inexperienced.
Can they be broody at 8 months already?
I just thought that she likes that she's being left alone in there.

Anyway, she doesn't have any fertilized eggs (and most of the time she sits in an egg-less nesting box). What do i need to do?
Thank you again!

 

[nirtak]

That sounds so scary! And yes, super glue! I have to remember that. We super glue our own wounds sometimes, but I should keep it in mind for the chickens.
I would have had to wait until the bleeding stopped, though.
Thanks for this reminder!

 

[mirandaleecon]

I had thought about broodiness, but these are our first chickens. So I'm completely inexperienced.
Can they be broody at 8 months already?
I just thought that she likes that she's being left alone in there.

Anyway, she doesn't have any fertilized eggs (and most of the time she sits in an egg-less nesting box). What do i need to do?
Thank you again!

That's about how old my super broody hen went broody for the first time, so yup that's entirely possible!

Well, if she hasn't already been there for too long (two weeks, max) you could try to get her some fertile eggs to hatch. Pretty easy to find if you just look or post an ad for "hatching eggs" on craigslist. Just know, since it's her first time she may change her mind before the eggs hatch and stop sitting. So don't spend a bunch of money on shipped eggs or anything...

If you want to break her of the broodiness, you can put her in a wire bottom cage that is somehow suspended off the ground, for a couple days. I use an old rabbit hutch. The trick is not to let her have any nesting material and to get her tush to cool off. I'll put mine in the hutch at night and let her out during the day. If she heads back to her nest she goes right back to the broody breaker. Took two nights to break her...

 

[nirtak]

I'm so thankful for this site and for your replies, mirandaleecon!
My friend visited today and she confirmed the broodiness. I blocked the nesting boxes today after all the chickens had laid their eggs. I have yet to find a rabbit cage. Should have been better prepared, I guess.
When she didn't have her hideout, she did get attacked by yet another of the sexlinks. She's not defensive at all despite being broody.
What's the best think to do now? The sexlinks all seem to attack her, but the one I separated seemed to be the main aggressor. Keep that one separate, try to end the broodiness, hope it's better afterwards?
Thanks once again

 

[mirandaleecon]

I'm so thankful for this site and for your replies, mirandaleecon!
My friend visited today and she confirmed the broodiness. I blocked the nesting boxes today after all the chickens had laid their eggs. I have yet to find a rabbit cage. Should have been better prepared, I guess.
When she didn't have her hideout, she did get attacked by yet another of the sexlinks. She's not defensive at all despite being broody.
What's the best think to do now? The sexlinks all seem to attack her, but the one I separated seemed to be the main aggressor. Keep that one separate, try to end the broodiness, hope it's better afterwards?
Thanks once again

Hey, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, weekends are always busy busy...Is she still broody?

I think separating the aggressor was probably the best thing to do. Whenever you separate a chicken, the pecking order gets re-sorted. When you bring her back in, she will start back at the bottom. There will be some fighting to get re-established but it should bring her down a notch.

When/if you try to break your hen of being broody, try to do it in an area where the others can still see her. If you totally separate her, she will start at the bottom when you reintroduce her. Fine for an aggressive hen because they can handle being at the bottom, not good for a submissive hen because she will stay at the bottom.

How much space do they have? Fighting is usually much worse when the submissive hen can't get away. You might want to look at building a bigger run or actually free-ranging would be best but I know that's not always possible. You could also reduce your flock which would definitely help with fighting...

I have also heard of people removing all but the submissive hen and one aggressive hen. Wait a bit then reintroduce the others one at a time. Basically just scrambling the pecking order but giving the submissive hen a better chance.