Help! Failed Re-Integration into Flock, Hen Badly Hurt!

[HettiesHens]

Ok, so if anyone read my previous post a few months back one of my Leghorn hens wasn't feeling too well and I asked for advice and took her to the vet. She recuperated and was in better health at last and then came the real challenge: reintroducing her into the flock.

It's been a back and forth effort for the past 2-3 months or so, and had been making progress with the flock slowly accepting her again to the point where she could eat and sit with them, just not sleep in the coop overnight.

Then this past Friday we found her against the fence all bloodied up. She had peck wounds on her head and some wounds on her back (we figured they had pinned her against the fence and jumped on her). We immediately separated her again and are restarting the process of getting her in better health again and have been keeping her in a separate part of the yard.

Then today, my injured hen had snuck under the gate into the yard with the rest of the flock and was attacked again! Her head is completely bald of feathers now and she is practically dead on her feet. We put HenHealer cream on her and put her in a caged pen with fresh water and food, and a heat lamp (as it was chilly) and she immediately fell asleep.

A few hours later we checked on her again and now her head is a globby bloody mess and she isn't responding to much. She is eating and drinking at least but doesn't respond to us touching her and her tail is down. We've put more cream and Vetericyn spray on her to help but it looks like it might be infected.

We're not sure what to do now if we should take her to the vet and if they'll just tell us to keep doing what we're doing, or worse: if my hen might be dying. And if that's the case, I don't want to prolong her suffering.

Anyone who can give advice or help, or has any experience with with please, please help us! We love our hens and I can't stand to see her hurting.

 

[AutumnZ]

Omg

 

[Alaskan]

Well... the new horror just happened.... so clearly she is still in shock.

I would keep her in a warm safe location and wait for the morning and then reassess.

 

[micstrachan]

I agree. A warm, quiet, calm, dark environment so she can rest and then reassess.

 

[cottagecheese]

First, she needs to heal from this and if she's eating and drinking those are very good signs. Why do you say she's infected? Did it get infected after the first attack (on Friday)? Does it smell? Do you see pus? I'm not very sure what I see there. She needs protein to heal, boiled egg for example, with the shell too if she's laying.

What to do so this doesn't happen again? Do you know who exactly attacked her? Who started, who followed? Who are her enemies? A rooster wouldn't let this happen. So you could get a rooster. Or, once you identified the bullies, you can cure them of the desire to bully or more precisely to literally get a piece of her, by a one week vacation in a cage in the garage for example. The isolation from the flock will mess with their heads and the pecking order will rearrange itself. Or, you can keep her isolated, next to the flock but out of reach, and make very very sure that no more accidents happen. You can also post a thread in the "Managing Your Flock' forum for more advice on reintegration.

I hope everything goes well with the wound care and she doesn't decide to...well you know. But that's unlikely.

 

[Alaskan]

How is she today?