chicken with pecked head and eye

[mandarin1]

So I went this morning to do my daily check on our chickens and I had a young pullet laying down in the corner of the chicken run. She was not moving and when I picked her up I noticed that her eye is slightly swollen with some dried blood on it making it so she cannot open it and there was a small peck wound on the back of her head (I'd say slightly larger an ink pen tip) but it was not actively bleeding. I separated her and put food and water (with electrolytes) for her, she showed no interest in either, so I scrambled her an egg, also showed no interest in it. She is just laying down with her eyes closed. Has anyone seen chickens come back from a pecking injury like this, should I give her a day or should I go ahead and cull her? I want her to have a chance to survive, but I also do not want her to be in pain only to die. Any help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Blue Raptor]

So I went this morning to do my daily check on our chickens and I had a young pullet laying down in the corner of the chicken run. She was not moving and when I picked her up I noticed that her eye is slightly swollen with some dried blood on it making it so she cannot open it and there was a small peck wound on the back of her head (I'd say slightly larger an ink pen tip) but it was not actively bleeding. I separated her and put food and water (with electrolytes) for her, she showed no interest in either, so I scrambled her an egg, also showed no interest in it. She is just laying down with her eyes closed. Has anyone seen chickens come back from a pecking injury like this, should I give her a day or should I go ahead and cull her? I want her to have a chance to survive, but I also do not want her to be in pain only to die. Any help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

She must be in shock from the wound, can you post a picture so we know how serious the wound is? Wait a day.

 

[mandarin1]

She must be in shock from the wound, can you post a picture so we know how serious the wound is? Wait a day.

Sure, here's a few pics of her. Thank you for responding so quickly. I hope she can get through this.

 

[mandarin1]

Unfortunately we just lost her

 

[CluckerFamily]

I am so sorry

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry for your loss. I would examine her body, looking and feeling her crop to see if it is empty, full, hard, or puffy, look over skin for mites or lice, feel of her breast muscles to see if she has recently lost weight, and for any fullness or enlargement of her lower abdomen. She may have been pecked because she was sick, but she might have been hurt. Do you know if she was recently laying eggs or separating herself from the flock? Your state vet could do a necropsy to look for a cause of death if you keep her body cold, but not frozen.

 

[mandarin1]

So sorry for your loss. I would examine her body, looking and feeling her crop to see if it is empty, full, hard, or puffy, look over skin for mites or lice, feel of her breast muscles to see if she has recently lost weight, and for any fullness or enlargement of her lower abdomen. She may have been pecked because she was sick, but she might have been hurt. Do you know if she was recently laying eggs or separating herself from the flock? Your state vet could do a necropsy to look for a cause of death if you keep her body cold, but not frozen.

So sorry for your loss. I would examine her body, looking and feeling her crop to see if it is empty, full, hard, or puffy, look over skin for mites or lice, feel of her breast muscles to see if she has recently lost weight, and for any fullness or enlargement of her lower abdomen. She may have been pecked because she was sick, but she might have been hurt. Do you know if she was recently laying eggs or separating herself from the flock? Your state vet could do a necropsy to look for a cause of death if you keep her body cold, but not frozen.

I did look her over for mites and lice, no signs of either. Also she was not old enough to lay eggs yet and had not been separating from the flock. She was in my "young" chicken coop with all other young birds she had been with since chicks. She is my second one that I have found with an injury and I believe we found the culprit (young cockeral). He has been separated to make sure he is in fact the problem (crossing my fingers that its him so I dont lose any other pullets). I guess he's just becoming an aggressive bird as he gets older.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Unfortunately we just lost her

I'm sorry.