Hi there. I decided after reading alot of your members' comments and constantly seeking advice from this website, that I would join! I do have a dilemma.
We have 6 Golden Comet hens. They will be 2 years old in April and we've had them together since they were a day old. We have never had any problems with them until now.
About a few months ago, one of our hens started looking bald in a couple areas, but we assumed it was normal (like molting). Then, we discovered one evening that she had some blood in the area so we watched what was going on and several other chickens were picking at her.
After researching online what to do, we cleaned her up and originally put Bag Balm on her. I was reading about BluKote and Pine Tar also. It seems several people have the opinion that you cannot eat the chicken if BluKote is used, so we decided to try Pine Tar just in case.
We also isolated her in a separate area - dog crate with fencing.
We read that this could be caused by a vitamin deficiency or protein deficiency - so we added vinegar to their water and have increased meat scraps and mealworms.
After several days to one week, we tried to re-introduce her and they started to attack her! So, we put her back out in the dog crate and I did more research. I read that we could try taking out the aggressive hens and isolate them, thus giving her more of a chance to re-establish her pecking order with the rest of the hens. We took out the 2 most aggressive hens and they have been in isolation for several days now.
However, when I went out there yesterday, she is still getting pecked on from the other 3 hens. I don't know what else to do. I applied more pine tar and this helped but I fear that they will still go after her.
My husband also needs his space back where the isolated hens are and I need to eventually (sooner than later) put the other 2 aggressive hens back in with the flock. I'm afraid that once I do that, it will be over for her.
Is there anything else I can try?
Thank you so much for enduring this long post and welcoming me into your group!!
Tracy
We have 6 Golden Comet hens. They will be 2 years old in April and we've had them together since they were a day old. We have never had any problems with them until now.
About a few months ago, one of our hens started looking bald in a couple areas, but we assumed it was normal (like molting). Then, we discovered one evening that she had some blood in the area so we watched what was going on and several other chickens were picking at her.
After researching online what to do, we cleaned her up and originally put Bag Balm on her. I was reading about BluKote and Pine Tar also. It seems several people have the opinion that you cannot eat the chicken if BluKote is used, so we decided to try Pine Tar just in case.
We also isolated her in a separate area - dog crate with fencing.
We read that this could be caused by a vitamin deficiency or protein deficiency - so we added vinegar to their water and have increased meat scraps and mealworms.
After several days to one week, we tried to re-introduce her and they started to attack her! So, we put her back out in the dog crate and I did more research. I read that we could try taking out the aggressive hens and isolate them, thus giving her more of a chance to re-establish her pecking order with the rest of the hens. We took out the 2 most aggressive hens and they have been in isolation for several days now.
However, when I went out there yesterday, she is still getting pecked on from the other 3 hens. I don't know what else to do. I applied more pine tar and this helped but I fear that they will still go after her.
My husband also needs his space back where the isolated hens are and I need to eventually (sooner than later) put the other 2 aggressive hens back in with the flock. I'm afraid that once I do that, it will be over for her.
Is there anything else I can try?
Thank you so much for enduring this long post and welcoming me into your group!!
Tracy