Elvie got scalped... Harvest passed away

[Nellie Rose]

Hey everyone. I am not new here, I just got locked out of my og email and can't access my account. I'll see if I can find one of my old posts and link it.
I'm having issues with my girls, specially my mille fluer Elvira.
Elvie was injured on Tuesdays I believe. I went to let the birds out to free-range and one of my old girls had her pinned between the feeder and the wall and was pecking her non stop.
After I got her out I saw that she had been scalped. A part of her skull was exposed and the "meat" under the skin of her neck. If I lifted the skin I could see clear under her neck, like sausage skin if that makes any sense.
She is doing very well, once she got over the initial shock it was like nothing happened. I irrigated the wound with peroxide initially, because I am out of betadine, and have been applying antibiotic ointment twice daily. She is living in a crate on my screened in porch with daily trips outside.

I have been so busy caring for her, I only just found out today that her only sister, Harvest, passed away Sunday, and my family hid it from me. They were a pair, they never left each other's side, and they protected one another from the others. Until now there have been no serious issues, and Elvie actually held a position around the middle of the pecking order.

I believe her recent issues are due to Harvests death. I tried giving her some supervised time free-ranging with the flock, but they all immediately surrounded her.
Currently the plan is to get her a separate coop and run, and get her some bantam chicks to raise with her.

I don't have any questions really, she is doing well and healing okay and I have a plan to keep her safe moving forward. But I wanted to post about it anyway in case someone has some advice for me.
Here are a couple pictures of her wound the day after it happened. I don't have any current pictures but it is all scabbed over and seems to be healing alright.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Poor baby! I would recommend that you isolate the bully for a few days, that's a pretty vicious attack.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Poor little girl! I think your idea is a good one, separating her from the others and putting her with some chicks. Unfortunately she’d probably just be a target in the main coop now. Often once they’re been picked on like that, they never fully recover their confidence. I hope she continues to recover and bounce back!

 

[Saveria]

Was there a particular hen or hens that is the main bully? You also want to make sure it isn't that they are fighting over space or resources. What is your set up like?

 

[Nellie Rose]

Poor baby! I would recommend that you isolate the bully for a few days, that's a pretty vicious attack.

Issue is there is no bully. It seems to be everyone. Like I said her sibling always protected her, and vice versa.
And yeah, I've never dealt with anything like it. The same flock of 13 have all lived together for 3 years now with no new additions. I will say I've lost 3 birds this year, so perhaps their loss has had a more severe impact on the pecking order than I thought?

Poor little girl! I think your idea is a good one, separating her from the others and putting her with some chicks. Unfortunately she’d probably just be a target in the main coop now. Often once they’re been picked on like that, they never fully recover their confidence. I hope she continues to recover and bounce back!

Yeah, that is why I am planning on getting some new chicks to raise beside her. Exclusively bantams, in hopes she can get reestablished in a flock. As we know chickens often don't do well on their own.

Was there a particular hen or hens that is the main bully? You also want to make sure it isn't that they are fighting over space or resources. What is your set up like?

Nope, seems like it is everyone. I only saw the single hen attacking her, but ever since it is like they all surround her and target her at once. Obviously I couldn't attempt a real reintroduction until she is fully healed but being a single hen I doubt it would be effective.
36 square foot coop, with a 150 square foot run, lots of roosts inside and outside, and a 500 square foot fenced roaming area. Flock is let out into roaming area daily. There is a second 12 square foot coop inside main run, between that and the main coop there are 8 nesting boxes. 12 hens including Elvira, used to be 13, and at the beginning of the year, 15. But like I said the same group of 15 hens lived together peacefully for 3 years with no issues.

Elvie is very small, even compared to my other d'Uccle bantam. She is around 1 lb whereas my porcelain is 3. That being said she has never been denied access to food and has a good body composition, just small.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep updating as to her condition and any decisions made going forward.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Do you have strategic clutter in your run? A hidden corner where hens can eat and drink and run away easily?

 

[Nellie Rose]

Do you have strategic clutter in your run? A hidden corner where hens can eat and drink and run away easily?

Yes, I have multiple. Also hollow logs to hide and nest in, the two coops, and multiple feeders. In the outside area they can hide under the coop, under bushes and logs, and climb up more roosts. I've never had any issues with bullying before. This is completely new. And I've reintroduced a one legged chicken to the flock after a month of isolation with fewer problems. It's very out of the blue, but like I said I wasn't aware her sister had passed. I own a bakery and we had a festival over the weekend, so I had been feeding and watering the flock early in the morning before work, not looking things over like I usually do, and my family who found her hid her passing from me.

The attack shocked my family, we've never seen anything like it. I know things like this happen with chickens and I've read of lots of similar instances, but until now ours has always been peaceful.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Yes, I have multiple. Also hollow logs to hide and nest in, the two coops, and multiple feeders. In the outside area they can hide under the coop, under bushes and logs, and climb up more roosts. I've never had any issues with bullying before. This is completely new. And I've reintroduced a one legged chicken to the flock after a month of isolation with fewer problems. It's very out of the blue, but like I said I wasn't aware her sister had passed. I own a bakery and we had a festival over the weekend, so I had been feeding and watering the flock early in the morning before work, not looking things over like I usually do, and my family who found her hid her passing from me.

The attack shocked my family, we've never seen anything like it. I know things like this happen with chickens and I've read of lots of similar instances, but until now ours has always been peaceful.

That's so strange, maybe there's something wrong with Elvie, internally?

 

[Nellie Rose]

That's so strange, maybe there's something wrong with Elvie, internally?

Maybe, I don't know. She's acting fine, shes super active and loves to fly, she's got strong wings, she eats a lot. I think it's got something to do with the changes in the pecking order.

I moved her into a bigger crate now that she is healing. She's got a nice looking scab that is starting to pull away at the edges where the skin is healing. I just hope it heals fully over the exposed skull, it should I've just seen instances where exposed bone remains exposed.
I added some roosts, she's got much more space.
I am trying to think of more ways to give her some enrichment during her recovery, I thought of adding a dust box but don't want to infect the wound.
I breed mealworms for my lizards so maybe I'll release some and let her hunt for them, maybe add leaf litter on top of the pee pads so she can peck through them.

I take her outside for outside time every day, but I can’t leave her alone because she will fly into the chicken pen, poor thing really wants to go home. I may try to introduce one of the other bantams to her one on one, so she has a little bit of interaction. That hen is quite low on the pecking order and very timid, although sometimes the lower hens turn out to be the most vicious towards fallen members but we'll see.
Once she is fully healed I'll move her back into a fenced off area outside, just want to make sure there is less risk of infection in the meantime.
Here are some pictures of her.

 

[Nellie Rose]

Here are some new pictures of Elvie, taken yesterday.
She's had some yellow buildup on her skin, where her feathers are growing back, some infection on the skin maybe? Some of the feathers got trapped under some of the more superficial scabbing (where her skin had been pecked raw), and she developed a few ingrown feathers. I intervened before they progressed into feathers cysts.
Not sure if it could be a breed thing but my porcelain dÚccle is prone to feather cysts.

The main scab over her wound came off as well, the pictures are of what is underneath.

Her feathers are already growing back.

Also a picture of her cage before I cleaned it and of her with her little ointment hat.
I gave her some bread soaked with electrolyte and probiotic water and nutridrench. I sprinkled some ecenacia over it and mixed some in her water, just to give her some extra support.

I ordered some chicks to come at the end of September, all bantams to live with Elvie. Elvie's personal run is under construction, so after the first week or two I'll probably move the chicks outside to live with her but with a heating pad rigged up that they can get underneath. It'll be a small space at first but I'll have a bigger coop built by late December to early January.

this picture is of after i cleaned off some of the yellow gunk and freed a few pin feathers.

and these are before