EMERGENCY - 6 wk old chicks pecked pullet HARD, barely alive

[amysflock]

I have 14 6 wk old chicks in our coop, hatched from my last flock (which was taken by coyotes). Yesterday evening I noticed the three EEs and the run were missing some feathers but didn't take them out like I should have.

Gone all day, just went out to check, and they have killed and nearly fully plucked one, and another EE appears unconscious but is breathing and startles a bit.

I grabbed it and ran to the house, laid it in some lukewarm water in the sink to cool it down (it's 90 degrees right now). I have it on a towel on my lap right now. They pulled all its tail feathers out and left some raw meat there, plucked feathers out of its back. Does not appear to have any other injuries.

WHAT SHOULD I DO??? It won't drink at this point as its eyes are closed. I'm going to pull the other two out and put them in a large dog kennel together to get them away from the rest.

 

[homesteadingcowgirl]

Hi Amy (sorry to see you at BYC under these conditions)

Do you have any shock remedy, 5 flower, or rescue remedy? Garlic can help to bring them around, (fresh), chop it small enough and put it in their throat-it is good for shock. I will look in my "notes" for some other stuff and will reply again.
If they are starting to come around, you can put some wound stop, etc... on the wound. Flour and cornatarch will work if you don't have any.

 

[amysflock]

Thanks, seems I'm only here when I have chicken problems.

For the garlic, do I just mince some and put a bit in her mouth after forcing her beak open, or should I wait until she's conscious? I don't have any of the remedies, but I did get her to take a sip of sugar water. I'm gonna go check her again now. I hate this.

Are EEs the outcasts of the chicken world, or only if there aren't many in a flock? This happened in my parent flock, too (just the picking of EEs, not any death by picking). And of course I love my gentle EEs the best almost, so this is really hard.

 

[homesteadingcowgirl]

Mince it and give it to her (you will have to force it to her, but they generally don't give you any troubles with it), but I would wait until she is "awake". In this case the pecking probably has more to do with the age and the color, but also consider some of the conditions in your coop/pen, etc... There are some situations that seem condusive to more picking than others. You would be suprised with birds, I have had several that I thought for sure wouldn't make it and did remarkably well. I of course can't find my dang books at the moment. The garlic will help to stimulate their immune system quickly and it won't hurt them a bit. I would give each of them a clove (not a bulb), and probably do the same tomorrow and the next day. You can also do a web search for avian pedialyte. If you are near a health food store, the stuff I use is called Bach's Rescue Remedy-it seems a little pricey up front ($10-12 here), but when I consider how many times I use a bottle it's worth it. I am sorry you are going through this. When the time comes to reintroduce them, you will have to be careful.

 

[threehorses]

Hi there amy. I'm sorry to hear about your flock. Chickens can be so horrible. On the 'raw meat' area, be sure to cleanse that well with a gentle cleaner or with a solution of betadine and water made into a mixture the color of very weak tea. Then consider something like neosporin ointment on the raw bits. You'll want to keep her up and away from the others, but possibly also in a more inside area to keep flies from being attracted to the freshness of the wound and laying eggs there. Flies can smell that stuff for a good distance and it only takes one fly to lay 300 eggs. IF one already hit it, and you have larvae (maggots) hatch - just clean them all off and re-treat the area.

In the mean time, you can use human pedialyte in a pinch if you need today with the other treatments you're giving. You can even mix some o f the crumbles into that to make a thick to give her a bit to drink if she won't on her own. If she does on her own, you can use a poultry vitamin/electrolyte package for any stress. Use as directed on the label. It's non-medicinal and will help for the stress she undoubtedly suffered today.

They're very resilient and I'm sure with your good care she'll be better. When you reintroduce her, first put two buddies in with her for 2 days or so - THEN reintroduce the three of them. Doing that throws off their bullying as it's harder to find three "new" chickens than one. ALso reintroduce at night and be prepared to watch them the next day (Friday night for Saturday watching is good.)

Good luck!

 

[amysflock]

Thanks, guys. I'll look into pedialyte and garlic tomorrow. She's still hanging in there, but still not awake. She'll be quarantined in the bathroom by herself until she's lucid and doing better.

DH and I just went out in the dark with a flashlight and pulled two more bloody ones out, and hit another three with BluKote so their bare white backs won't stand out as a target against their black feathers. This now makes four in the brood box in the garage for the night (all bloodied and now BluKoted), one in the bathroom, and three more sprayed in the coop.

DH will put together a temporary coop outside tomorrow a.m. for me so I can move the 4 from the brood box outside, as they'll be too hot and too crowded in there any longer than that. If everyone makes it, I'll have five to reintroduce at some point (but I still have a couple to adopt out anyway, the boys).

Whew.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I would not go feeding such an enormous amount of garlic to a wounded young bird (specific contra-indication >prolonged bleeding > this is well documented in the literature) see also here:
http://www.birdchannel.com/media/bi...rd-nutrition/birds-onions-and-garlic.aspx.pdf

 

[amysflock]

Well, the unconscious girl died overnight without taking a second sip of water for me. We pulled two more and stuck them in the brood box (both bloodied) after cleaning their wounds with hydrogen peroxide and BluKote. I sprayed Blu Kote on three others' bald spots in the barn to discourage further picking and will keep an eye on them. The other five are unpicked and fine. We'll move the four brooder babies to an outside pen today and I'll grab the other picked on ones if necessary. By process of elimination I may figure out who the main instigator is, and they will not be long for this world.

 

[PhlyinPheBee]

Sorry for your loss.