First chicken injury experience

[KBNAZ]

Hello,
We have 4 chickens, all laying now. I saw today that the ameraucana, who seens to have always been lowest in the pecking order, has missing feathers and red, sort of open sores on both wings... What i would call the shoulder area. I would guess that the others are picking on her, but this would be new behavior for them. I am reading that we should separate her and maybe wash the wounds with saline and put non-numbing antibiotix ointment.

Any ideas why they might be pecking at her on both sides in exactly the same place, or if she could be doing it to herself or something? Any more suggestions for care? Thanks in advance! We are new to chickens and this is our first problem sice they were chicks.

 

[Harry Rooster]

I've noticed in some of my chickens before, that if one has something wrong with it the others will peck it. Also I read on some of the posts that sometimes the chickens themselves will peck itself and sometimes pull out it's own feathers if they have parasites like mites or lice or something. Have you checked her for mites? If you can't find anything wrong with her it must be some other reason unknown to me, but I also read on post that there is some kind of spray or something think it's called something like "peck no more", can't remember, but you could probably type your problem in the "search forum" bar and find out. Seems that this can be a problem or they wouldn't have a product to deal with it. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Maybe it is a parasite, be sure to check that first. Hope you find out what it is, but I would remove her from the others if they are pecking her, and if she's doing it herself it may be some kind of stress also.

Hope you can find out what's up. Maybe someone else has some other ideas.

 

[Harry Rooster]

Oh yea, I would also remove her too. They will peck her if she's got wounds. You can wash the wounds also with peroxide, or diluted Betadine (I use the cheap brand Equate, it is exactly the same ingredients as Betadine at 1/2 the price) and put some neosporin ointment on them, I wouldn't try to wrap or bandage it, as you probably can't anyway. Hopefully they will heal up and you can watch her once you've seperated her to see if she is the one doing it. If so you will definately need to find out why and fix the problem or they will never get well and could possibly get infected. At any sign of infection, get her on an antibiotic.

 

[KBNAZ]

I checked the girls for mites. Their feathers are so thick, it is hard to get down to the skin to look and they are very squirmy... But i did notice that the barred rock has no feathers on ber back underside, near her vent and the skin looks irritated. I guess we will treat for mites to make sure. Meanwhile i am looking for a dog crate on craigslist, becaise i dont know where we can separate the injured girl to. We do have a side yard that is fenced away from the dogs, and just has wood and metal materials. Could i put her in there or would she be able to fly over the 6 foot fence??

 

[KBNAZ]

OK. I did get a little dog crate off of Craigslist, but after talking to the guy at the feed store, I decided not to separate our girl. Here's what I spent my afternoon doing yesterday:

1) I got all of the straw and bedding out of the run and coop and sprayed the floors, walls, coop, everything down with Insectrin X, which is 10% permetherin (sp?). The guy at the feed store told me to mix it strong for the wooden coop: 3 oz to one gallon. Very stinky, but I left it open for a while and left the window open all night to let it air out.
2) After raking the run down to bare dirt, I sprinkled Garden and Poultry Dust (also has permetherin) all over the ground. I also used the spray on the tree branch they roost on.
3) Put Rooster Booster Pick No More on Spike's wounds and on Spot's bare butt. Pretty cool stuff actually. It has calendula and aloe and is a thick purple paste that covers and hides the wound. I will check today to make sure the others aren't still picking on her and reapply if needed. I would recommend gloves, because this stuff stains your skin.
4) Dusted the chickens. This was the interesting part, and definitely built up my confidence in handling our girls. The guy at the feed store said to hold them upside down by their legs to dust them... which I did.... which was great, because I was really wondering when reading the forum how in the heck I was going to get dust up under their wings. They tolerated being held by their feet briefly with just a couple of flaps and objections.

Hopefully this will take care of the problem. I will dust again after about a week?? to get any mites that hatch.

I also put a shallow pan of DE in there for them to dust bath in.

 

[Sylvestor12]

Okay a good way to treat for external parasites is Frontline. Take an non-needled syringe a put 1 drop under each wing and 1 drop on the back of the neck where they can''t preen through their feathers. Also, do you have a rooster? Roosters have favoite hens and can give them spots like that on their wing and backs. If that could be the case, look up how to make chickens saddles. Last, I've found through personal expieience that Americaunas and such are the more lower ranking and loner type. The thing I think they were bred for were looks and cold tolerance. Thta's kinda why their feathers are so thick, have the poofy cheeks, and small combs; they are good for cold weather. Hope this helped!