Clarity Needed Head Pecking Wound

[Beamerz]

My flock is 14 hens and two roosters .. each of two different gernations.. one is about 4 months older than the other.. The oldest "Napoleon" is a sweet Poli roo but has little to no tolerance for any other rooster in the flock. We have eliminated 4 of them and now our second generations rooster" Bagel" ( my profile pic) is getting his head pecked badly I guess in the coop. I have sprayed it with some anticeptic, but my QUESTION is that the wound is about the size of a quarter.. and had lots of quills sticking out of it.. which I was inclinded to pull out (gut instinct ) about healing ... but today I noticed that they had all been pulled out and the wound looked redder and more horible. I'd seen two different hens next to him on the roost gently pecking the wound site but their body language was not agressive and I sensed they were maybe trying to help? ( newbie me is confused here)
Do some of the hens groom and did they pull these stubs of feathers out to help or was it part of malice.. ?? This youngster Bagel Roo is sweet as can be and it breaks my heart how even some of the bossy hens chase him and he is SO submissive he never can even eat with the others when they range. or in the coop he is always alone.
As I said in another post he was one of 5 chicks that arrived with 5 guineas ( second gernation to the flock)( one of the guineas and all the white chicks but him got eaten by hawks . ( His first trauma) which was significant evidently.. and then the male guineas that he'd taken to be his "flockmates" began to attack him badly recently as he reached sexual maturity, which tipped the scales for me to give them away as they were too loud in our neighborhood, but I saw how much his missed loosing his second flock no matter how abusive they had been. I had to switch one off of him with a stick the day before they got deported. I am trying to help him with his passivity, but need help to know how to best do that. And I need insight about this wound and how I can help to prevent this from happening, if there is a way , and how to deal with this situation. The dominant Roo seems tired from reigning over 14 girls all day. I have high hopes he can relenquish a few hens to the little guy who actually already has at least a pound on the dominant roo who makes him keep his distance. Thanks in Advance..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How many polish do you have? Unfortunately polish are often targets for head pecking wounds. I would remove that rooster asap for his own safety. They will peck his skull open. Any chicken with an obvious wound needs to be separated from the flock to avoid cannibalism.

 

[Beamerz]

Oh my, thank you for your prompt reply.. If I segregate him, and heal him how can I reintroduce him? Any insight would be appreciated regarding "pecking order"... how can I help him become more agressive to defend himself?
Thanks!
P.S.
I only have these two polish roos and one bantam hen that is brown and black but has that "crown".... This forum is a treasure.. I try to read but one can or seems to seldom prepare as well as one would need to begin the magic of chickens.. Thank you and thanks the makers of this marvel!

 

[cassie]

When chickens see a red place they will peck it. Try spraying the affected area with BluKote. If that doesn't work you will have to remove the victim before it is pecked to death.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Oh my, thank you for your prompt reply.. If I segregate him, and heal him how can I reintroduce him? Any insight would be appreciated regarding "pecking order"... how can I help him become more agressive to defend himself?
Thanks!

How many are polish?

 

[Beamerz]

When chickens see a red place they will peck it. Try spraying the affected area with BluKote. If that doesn't work you will have to remove the victim before it is pecked to death.

Thanks for this reply, it helped me to understand what I was seeing with the hens that didn't seem to be aggressively pecking , it looked almost like preening.. I'm thinking of devising a bandage bonnet which will keep in some neosporin and allow air ( made of gauze but have a top layer I can spray with peck no more attached with some flesh colored stretchy heavy duty tape So does this sound Crazy, Wrong or a Bad idea to those of you who are "seasoned Chicken people?" I can segragate him at night to prevent early morning pecking/picking but to my knowledge it doesn't happen when they free range because he is such a loner during the day and stays to himself ( sadly) or sometimes hangs with the wild turkeys that come into our yard. ... gotta say I love BYC

 

[gimmie birdies]

Don't pull on the quills! They are painful for the chickens. My polish hens are pecked on too. It is the time of the year. They are more close together, and the hair/headdress is wet. Poor babies!

 

[JCaseyHammond]

My flock is 14 hens and two roosters .. each of two different gernations.. one is about 4 months older than the other.. The oldest "Napoleon" is a sweet Poli roo but has little to no tolerance for any other rooster in the flock. We have eliminated 4 of them and now our second generations rooster" Bagel" ( my profile pic) is getting his head pecked badly I guess in the coop. I have sprayed it with some anticeptic, but my QUESTION is that the wound is about the size of a quarter.. and had lots of quills sticking out of it.. which I was inclinded to pull out (gut instinct ) about healing ... but today I noticed that they had all been pulled out and the wound looked redder and more horible. I'd seen two different hens next to him on the roost gently pecking the wound site but their body language was not agressive and I sensed they were maybe trying to help? ( newbie me is confused here)
Do some of the hens groom and did they pull these stubs of feathers out to help or was it part of malice.. ?? This youngster Bagel Roo is sweet as can be and it breaks my heart how even some of the bossy hens chase him and he is SO submissive he never can even eat with the others when they range. or in the coop he is always alone.
As I said in another post he was one of 5 chicks that arrived with 5 guineas ( second gernation to the flock)( one of the guineas and all the white chicks but him got eaten by hawks . ( His first trauma) which was significant evidently.. and then the male guineas that he'd taken to be his "flockmates" began to attack him badly recently as he reached sexual maturity, which tipped the scales for me to give them away as they were too loud in our neighborhood, but I saw how much his missed loosing his second flock no matter how abusive they had been. I had to switch one off of him with a stick the day before they got deported. I am trying to help him with his passivity, but need help to know how to best do that. And I need insight about this wound and how I can help to prevent this from happening, if there is a way , and how to deal with this situation. The dominant Roo seems tired from reigning over 14 girls all day. I have high hopes he can relenquish a few hens to the little guy who actually already has at least a pound on the dominant roo who makes him keep his distance. Thanks in Advance..

Sorry your polish chickens are not getting along. Actually this is to be expected. It will be simple to fix the situation.

First, remove the wounded bird from the flock, to stop the other chickens from *eating* him. You can put a dog crate in your garage or anywhere he can be kept warm and dry. Put an old towel on the bottom of the crate with a bowl of water and a dish of his food. Put a pea sized blob of Neosporin triple antibiotic gel on his wound and spread it with your finger (same kind as for people’s cuts). Do not pull out the quills. Those are new feathers and skin trying to heal itself. Just leave them even if they look ugly. Put more Neosporin on the wound twice a day, every day for a week. And wash your hands after each time.

Give the other chickens something extra to peck, like half a lettuce head, or cooked squash or yams, or oatmeal.

Get something to divide the inside space of your coop into 2 areas. Go to a store that sells bottled water and ask to take a few of the large sheets of cardboard that come between the bottled water packs. All grocery stores have large sheets of cardboard they have to get rid of. It will fold up in thirds. Put the cardboard inside the coop with one edge on the floor and another edge on the wall. Make a divider so each rooster can have his own area with 7 hens.

When the hurt bird has healed up, put him back in the coop with the hens.

Take out the other rooster from the coop and put him in the crate with food and water for a couple of days. Then put him back in the coop with the others. That should change up the pecking order. Let me know how it goes.

 

[cassie]

Thanks for this reply, it helped me to understand what I was seeing with the hens that didn't seem to be aggressively pecking , it looked almost like preening.. I'm thinking of devising a bandage bonnet which will keep in some neosporin and allow air ( made of gauze but have a top layer I can spray with peck no more attached with some flesh colored stretchy heavy duty tape So does this sound Crazy, Wrong or a Bad idea to those of you who are "seasoned Chicken people?" I can segragate him at night to prevent early morning pecking/picking but to my knowledge it doesn't happen when they free range because he is such a loner during the day and stays to himself ( sadly) or sometimes hangs with the wild turkeys that come into our yard. ... gotta say I love BYC

This is just a comment. Take it for what it is worth. If you use BluKote you do not need neosporin. BluKote is antibacterial and anti fungal. The big benefit in these cases though, is that it turns the red area blue and thus discourages picking.

 

[Beamerz]

This is just a comment. Take it for what it is worth. If you use BluKote you do not need neosporin. BluKote is antibacterial and anti fungal. The big benefit in these cases though, is that it turns the red area blue and thus discourages picking.