Chicken missing feathers and blood...pecking problem? (UPDATED in post #4)

[happylittlehens]

I'll start with the facts of my little flock.
Chickens that I have together - 3 EE's, 3 Leghorns (7 weeks old) 1 EE, 3 Buff Orpingtons (5 weeks old)
They have all been in the coop together for the last week. The coop is 8' x 6' so they have plenty of space + a 6' x 10' run attached to the coop that they are free to wander from dawn to dusk. I haven't noticed any signs of aggression since I moved them from the brooder a week ago.

Last night I went out to shut the coop up and noticed one of the 5 week old BO's laying in the corner. She wasn't eating with the rest or running around. I figured maybe she was just tired and left her alone. This morning when I went out to open the coop, she was in the same corner. All the other girls ran over to me and their food. I held a handful of food in front of her and she ate it, but wouldn't move. At first it looked like something wrong with her leg or foot. She was limping and holding her left foot off the ground. I couldn't find anything wrong other than a tiny bit of blood on her leg, but could not find where it came from. I decided to take her in the house to check her out. I saw a little blood matted on her feathers and after further investigation lifted her left wing and found a bare spot. The feathers are gone. It's not bloody but looks red and inflammed. Any ideas? Does it look like she is being pecked by another chick? And why would that affect her leg? What should I do now? Please help, I feel so bad for this little girl.

 

[redneck farmer]

Hmmmm I would clean te wounds with Neosporin an apply till its healed. Keep her away from the others... I can't tell you about te leg I can't see it good in te pics.
If she was in a corner she was hiding... Witch means yes she was pecked.
Your breeds have two interesting traits
Orpingtions- "tend to always me in the bottom of the pecking order "
An the
Leghorns- yet can't be VERY VERY MEAN an the combo of leghorn on Orpington is going to have things like this happen. Watch your EEs too be ause they are subject to "bullying" from the leghorns! Plus if you see a chicken peck at this one when you put her back in the coop flick the attacking chicken in the back of the head when is does that an eventually it will stop because it ain't like the flicks...

 

[happylittlehens]

Hmmmm I would clean te wounds with Neosporin an apply till its healed. Keep her away from the others... I can't tell you about te leg I can't see it good in te pics.
If she was in a corner she was hiding... Witch means yes she was pecked.
Your breeds have two interesting traits
Orpingtions- "tend to always me in the bottom of the pecking order "
An the
Leghorns- yet can't be VERY VERY MEAN an the combo of leghorn on Orpington is going to have things like this happen. Watch your EEs too be ause they are subject to "bullying" from the leghorns! Plus if you see a chicken peck at this one when you put her back in the coop flick the attacking chicken in the back of the head when is does that an eventually it will stop because it ain't like the flicks...

How long should I keep her away from the others? I know leghorns can be pretty dominant, but I'd hoped we were past the stage of worry since they have been together for a few weeks with no real problems. My smallest leghorn seems to be a bossy little instigator. I guess all I can do is watch them for awhile and see which one is doing the pecking. Also, here are the best pics I could get of her leg. The blood is just dried with no wound under it. I assume it's from tucking it by where it was bleeding under her wing. I can't find anything wrong with it at all. Nothing seems out of place or cut/hurt.

 

[happylittlehens]

***UPDATE***

After further investigation we found that it's her left wing and leg that are hurt! She was still really weak and not moving much when I got home from work yesterday. She had eaten a little but not drank any water. Hubby held her while I put neosporin on what I "thought" was a peck wound (turns out the dried blood made the skin look reddish like it was inflammed). I checked under her other wing and it's just as bald as that side. While checking her out my hubby saw a cut on her wing. Right at the top, where the wing bends back toward the body. They sure can hide their wounds in all those feathers! It looks like she hit it on something. Maybe she crashed coming off the perch or running around like a maniac. That might explain injuring her wing AND leg on one side. Anyway, I put some neosporin on it and put her back in the "hospital" tote. We still couldn't find anything wrong with the leg. I tried giving her water with a dropper and she wouldn't cooperate. She woudn't move at all. Any time I tried to get her to move she would just lay down. I let her be for the night. This morning she is perky as ever! She was up eating and drinking! YAY! She is still limping a little on her leg, but not near as bad as she was yesterday. Maybe it was a pulled muscle or something. I think I will keep her in the house for one more day and make sure I get all the dried blood off her. Don't want a reason for a chick to start pecking her! I'm so happy that it looks like a self inflicted injury, I was really worried about having a bully chick in the coop.