Comb injury and signs of distress

[chickiemom3]

While putting my chickens (9 pullets, 1 cockerel, 22 weeks old approx) up for the night, I found some blood in the coop. I finally found the source: one of the Black Australorps had her comb torn. We have separated her for the time being to prevent further pecking and to give it time to heal. It is still mildly bleeding. The wound does not look that serious, but she is panting with her beak open periodically. I am sure this is a sign of stress from new surroundings (in the house) and being separated from her flock, combined with pain from the injury. She is the lowest girl on the pecking order and I assume the injury occurred from our cockerel attempting to mate (he's a little new to the game and hasn't figured out the niceties yet). My question is, Is there anything I can do to calm her stress and how worried do I need to be about her behavior? I would hate to separate her for her safety only to have her die of a heart attack!! I welcome thoughts from more experienced chicken keepers out there.

 

[junebuggena]

The house is probably just too warm for her. You're in Ohio, she's used to freezing temps. Inside the house is going to be oppressively hot for her. Combs get torn all the time. It's no big deal, and does not merit removal from the flock.

 

[BantamLover21]

The house is probably just too warm for her. You're in Ohio, she's used to freezing temps. Inside the house is going to be oppressively hot for her. Combs get torn all the time. It's no big deal, and does not merit removal from the flock.

I agree.

 

[chickiemom3]

Thank you for the replies. Her comb was torn where it meets her head toward the back by about a half inch. It was periodically breaking open and dropping blood over her beak. I was afraid that 1) it might freeze overnight and cause her difficulty breathing or 2) the other birds would bother it in the morning. I turned the temperature in the house down (bless my patient DH) and we put her in our mud room which is about 55 F. She immediately stopped panting and scratched around, ate something, and got a drink before hopping up on her roost. That was obviously the problem so again, thank you for the quick reply. You ever get the feeling you can't see the forest for the trees?