Emergency Help

[hensplease]

my turken was hurt 2 weeks ago from we think mites today he was starting to look better so we let him out with the other chickens when i went to check on them i found him in a corner with the chickens pecking him so we put him in his own cage it was a scabbed area and they pecked it open now the question is Should i kill him or should i give him a chance to live?

 

[skyedobb]

Seperating him is the right first step. The others love to peck at blood so it was a perfectly natural response from them. If the wound is just a scabbed over area and prety superficial, all you really need to do is clean it with some warm soapy water like you would a wound on yourself. You can leave it to heal naturally, but definately keep him apart from the others until it's healed. If you need to put him back with the others, you can try putting on a bandage or putting some sort of ointment on the wound - many suggest using neosporin w/out pain killer (is toxic to chickens?), but I don't like to use antibiotic cream unless you know it's infected. I've used bag balm with a lot of success. It slows down healing somewhat, but tastes bad and will deter the others from pecking.

 

[ranchhand]

You THINK mites? First, separate that poor bird from the others before they kill him.

Second, do some research, find out what is wrong with him. There's a lot of info on BYC, search for the symptoms.

Third, treat the real problem and don't put the poor guy in with the others until fully healed. They are attracted to scabs and blood, and will always attack the weakest bird.

Fourth, spend some time looking and searching in :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=10

Good luck, it sounds like you need it. And do some research, no reason to kill him until you figure out what happened. I hope you can figure it out, hang in there!