Afors
Chirping
Hey there,
The fam and I have almost had chickens for a year and we’ve lost a couple to a falcon and another to scissor beak, but other than that things had been going swimmingly. We have 7 currently 4 EE, 2 RIR, and 1 sapphire gem. Three of the EE are about 6 months younger than the rest of the flock. Eggs have been awesome and so have the birds. The wife has enjoyed them much more than she thought she would. However, this all got flip turned upside down about 45 minutes ago. I went out to gather eggs and lock up for the night and all but two hens were out in the run grabbing a last bit of light before heading in to roost. I opened the nesting box and my sapphire,who is molting real bad right now, but was on top of one of my younger EE and going to town on her neck feathers. The EE jumped out the nesting box and ran and hid behind my leg. I scooped her up and noticed her neck was bloody and bare of feathers in a patch about 1” by 1/2”. It’s a pretty bad wound too. I put some ointment on it and cleaned it up a bit. I currently have the victim in a dog crate with some food and water and the bully in another container as well. How long should I separate them from the flock? I saw an article about having a jail in the run and putting the victim in there for the day time so they can still be with the flock.
Just looking for some ideas and recommendations since my 11 months of chicken keeping knowledge is tapped out.
The fam and I have almost had chickens for a year and we’ve lost a couple to a falcon and another to scissor beak, but other than that things had been going swimmingly. We have 7 currently 4 EE, 2 RIR, and 1 sapphire gem. Three of the EE are about 6 months younger than the rest of the flock. Eggs have been awesome and so have the birds. The wife has enjoyed them much more than she thought she would. However, this all got flip turned upside down about 45 minutes ago. I went out to gather eggs and lock up for the night and all but two hens were out in the run grabbing a last bit of light before heading in to roost. I opened the nesting box and my sapphire,who is molting real bad right now, but was on top of one of my younger EE and going to town on her neck feathers. The EE jumped out the nesting box and ran and hid behind my leg. I scooped her up and noticed her neck was bloody and bare of feathers in a patch about 1” by 1/2”. It’s a pretty bad wound too. I put some ointment on it and cleaned it up a bit. I currently have the victim in a dog crate with some food and water and the bully in another container as well. How long should I separate them from the flock? I saw an article about having a jail in the run and putting the victim in there for the day time so they can still be with the flock.
Just looking for some ideas and recommendations since my 11 months of chicken keeping knowledge is tapped out.