chicken left with very bloody head!

[lemonpeep]

I am new to the whole chicken thing. A neighbor kindly got our family started by giving us two young roosters, not sure the breed. One week later we purchase 4 young hens, different breeds. One day later after they had all been in the pen together, we came home to find our sweet blue orpington outside all by herself, cowered down. As we approached the pen and got a closer look we could see the whole top of her head was covered in blood and she looked beat up very badly! We immediately put her off in another pen by herself so she could heal, she was so stressed out. It made me want to cry. She is still healing, her eyes are bubbling a little, yesterday, one was completely shut closed. We have since given back what we feel was the more aggressive rooster. They now seem to be living in harmony, however, I wonder if when I return her with the others, is there going to be another attack taking place? I would appreciate hearing the thoughts of someone with more chicken knowledge then me. On a lighter note, our hens came home to us this past Sunday and we have already picked up two eggs. Thanks.

 

[rooster-red]

I would be more concerned about the bubbling eyes, a sign of Coryza, which can inffect your entire flock.

There is a ton of info here on this disease, search keyword "Coryza" to view more threads on this.

 

[hankshens]

you can rinse her eyes with saline solution if they get shut. I did it to mine when he got beat up and it helped him. Be sure she is getting plenty to eat and drink. Let her heal before she is returned to the flock and then watch so they dont beat her up. Good Luck

 

[CK Chickadilly]

I made an eye wash of boric acid & sterile water for my hen that had a swollen shut eye plus scabs. I would rinse it & then rub some neomycin cream in her eye. It is now open & she can see again. I am not really sure what happened to make her eye get bad.

I agree that she shouldn't be returned to the pen until she has healed. Poor thing! Good luck!

 

[Cetawin]

I would keep her eye rinsed clean with a saline solution and let her heal. When you re-introduce her to the flock, do it when you can stand there with them and observe.

Good luck with her.

 

[lemonpeep]

Well....it has been about four days and Ophelia has healed nicely from her attack by either our roosters or the other chickens. Today I felt she may be ready to be re-introduced back with the flock, BAD MOVE! Immediately the others were checking her out, but not in a way that was friendly. I stood in the pen with them for a time to just watch and observe. Our now one rooster was making his usual male effort. O ran in the pen and right away to the corner for shelter with her head tucked. It almost appeared that the flock was going to commit another gang attack on her. Why are they treating her so badly? Her eye continues to foam a little but not all the time. I did notice today when I picked her up that she smelled a little. I have called the farm where I got her from to see if I can return her. She won't survive here with the others. Any suggestions or wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

 

[smith2]

I had a chicken that for some reason all the others wanted to attack. They were all raised together. It never did work out. She kept getting attacked and finally I just had to cull her. I don't know why they seem to do that, but I have had other people tell me the same thing about one of their chickens. I think there may be a fine line between bottom of the pecking order and all out attack.