Chicken fighting

[SN225]

Last week one of our chickens got sick and ended up passing away, the next day I noticed one had terrible diarrhea. My husband and I took her out of the coop and sprayed her down to find 100s of maggots all over her backend. I rushed her to the vet and now she is on medication and needs to stay inside for a few months to heal (had a giant wound on her backend that must have been covered by feathers so we never saw it. Our 2nd chicken to go through this by being attacked by the flock). Last night at 2am my husband and I were awoken to two of our black Jersey Giants fighting incredibly loud. We ran outside to find out what was going on and one was running back and forth in the coop going crazy trying to get out. I figured she was the one attacked so I took her and brought her inside in a dog crate to separate the two for awhile. Went out to the coop this morning and see the other chicken has blood on her crown and I'm pretty sure a broken wing. This isn't the first time this week they have gotten into a fight, but this one was pretty bad!! I'm just at a loss of what to do anymore. They get lots of time outside to roam but still can't seem to get along. We are about to go away on vacation for a few day which means they will have to stay inside together and I'm scared they are going to kill eachother!! I'm afraid to even put the black ones together at all! Any advice?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. If it is the 2 JG's that are suspects, I would put them in separate crates with food and water, while you are gone. Or, take the bully out for awhile to jail. There could be something else hurting your chickens though, and I would look very hard for holes in your coop where rats or a raccoon could squeeze into to damage your chickens.

 

[SN225]

Thank you! Not sure who the aggressor was, but one of them is in time out!! I've checked all around the coop this morning and did a big clean out of the coop last week and no signs of anything getting in. And they sleep in the top part which is up off the ground anyway, so it's very strange to me that they weren't sleeping at 2am! My 2 black ones have been fighting the past week or two anyway, but this was out of hand! There are feathers everywhere!!

 

[Adenium]

Are these chickens that have been raised together and/or cohabiting for a long time?

 

[SN225]

Yes, we have had the orpingtons for 4 years today and introduced the giants to the coop about 2 years ago. It was a very hard transition but they've seemed to be doing ok.

 

[SN225]

Also the vet had us give de-wormer to the chicken with the wound. She said not to eat her eggs through the remainder of the year because she wasn't sure how long the medication would be in her system. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Eggcessive]

Also the vet had us give de-wormer to the chicken with the wound. She said not to eat her eggs through the remainder of the year because she wasn't sure how long the medication would be in her system. Anyone have any experience with this?

With most common dewormers used in chickens--wazine, fenbendazole (SafeGuard and Panacur are brands) and Valbazen, the egg withdrawal time is usually 14 days after the last dose. Wazine is not adequate though because it only gets roundworm and none of the others. If your chickens were only wormed once, I would recommend a second dose 10 days after the first dose to get the worm larvae.

 

[SN225]

Thank you! I'm honestly not sure what kind of de-wormer it was. It didn't say on the bag. And she only gave it to her because she wasn't sure why she was having diarrhea, which ended up clearing up a couple hours after our trip to the vet anyway.
Should I be concerned about the chicken with a broken wing? Will it heal itself? Poor girl, it keeps getting in her way when she's trying to walk. And how long do you think I should keep the two who have been fighting apart?

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm sure if you call the vet's office the office staff can look up the medicine. Simple wing fractures without exposed bone can be treated by wrapping the wing in a natural position against the body. Look at pp 15-16 in this link for splinting instructions: http://www.blueridgewildlife.org/Articles/Basic Stabilization of Wildlife.pdf

 

[SN225]

Thank you!