I had to take one of my hens into the vet today because her eye area was all swollen. I had seen her, a White-faced Black Spanish, going at it with my little silver Leghorn hen. Then I noticed the eye. The vet ended up putting two stitches in because she had a pretty good cut in her eyelid. She also had a pretty good cut on her wattle. Looks like the eye itself will be okay. This is the first injury I have had like this. These guys are about 7 months old now and have grown up together. I have seen them have their squabbles, but geesh! Is it common for chickens to chomp each other up like this? What should I have in a first aid kit. I don't think I can afford to be taking them in for suturing all the time. Not sure what the total bill is on this one yet (I pretty much pay on my vet bill bi-weekly, with all my pets - argh).
I just went through the same thing with mine, about the same age, but 2 roos. You expect them to fight, but these 2 wouldn't back down. I had to seperate them. Both were beat up pretty bad. I doctored them the best I could. I'd also like to know what should be kept in a 1st aid kit and for what purposes.
A pretty basic kit would likely have... Neosporin or the like Blue-kote, a pecking preventative Petroleum jelly, for cold protection on comb/wattles and mite treatment Saline solution, for irrigation of wounds (even contact wash works) Gauze and tape, for binding/immobilizing damaged wings and such Duct tape, a quick cover for small pecked wounds, fall off later Band-aids, for spraddle legged chicks Popsicle sticks, for splints Uncoated bayer or generic aspirin, for easy dissolution A small tarp or sheet of plastic, to provide clean ground cover to work on. put it in a plastic baggie to keep it contained. 5/0 sutures, but only if you can use them, superglue if you can't forceps, 2 or 3, for the suturing And most important, a sealing container to put them all in. Chickens are the dustiest critters this side of Pigpen, and you don't want your supplies contaminated Add to this, folks, I know i've missed a few things.
Thanks for the responses. The Shagbark site is very good and I saved it for future reference. Chickenfortress, are you talking about the blue-kote I have for my horses? I get it at the feed store. I think the main ingredient is gentian blue. I would not have thought of using that on chickens so this is good to know. Also, you mentioned aspirin....what would I be using this for, and at what dosage? I don't know what is okay to use and what is not. I guess a better question would be what is NOT safe for chickens in a first aid kit?!
I've had mixed results with Blu-Kote, it does stop pecking tho, however does not heal any wounds from it. It ended up causing redness with one of my hens, I've had to put regularly neosporin on it since.
