Help! Hen with head injury!

[YWoody]

Hello guys
I'm hoping you all have some advice for me..
I'm away visiting my daughter in Idaho while my 18yr old grandson is "holding down the fort" at my place in Tucson. He is super responsible & all was going well. However, last night he reported that one on my hens appeared to have "bonked her head". Today at my request he sent me pictures & she really does have a head injury. He did not witness anything so I have no idea what could have occurred, he says the others do not appear to be picking on her, so I assume that she might have been startled & flew up hitting her head (just speculation). Anyway, I had him separate her from the flock in outside aviary into a large dog carrier in my garage.
She is eating & drinking and not acting dysfunctional. But her head is clearly injured.(photos he took are attached). Please advise is there is anything else I can have him do for her.

 

[le_bwah]

Hitting the roof or wall doesn't usually happen with enough force to bald them. That looks like a case of "pecking order gone too far" is you keep only hens. If you have a male or males, then they're the likely culprit.

It doesn't look like blood has been drawn yet, which would make it hard to tell which bird did it. Could your grandson sit with them again and watch their behavior?

 

[Nabiki]

That looks like over breeding by an aggressive male or bullying by other hens. In either case, it's quail on quail damage.

She doesn't look bad at all, so I would separate her, give it a quick rinse with some saline to make sure it's clean, and in a day or two she'll be ready to go back out with the rest.

 

[YWoody]

Yes, I have one Roo & 5 Hens, I have never observed any pecking. But my Roo is very sexually active; I was already wondering if I should add a 6th hen, due to how "busy" he is, but they are 8 weeks old now & I had concerns about them accepting a newbie at this point. Anyway, I have been away for 3 days now, & grandson has been observing them, and says he hasn't seen any aggressive behavior; however, clearly he has not been observing them nearly as much as I do.

 

[le_bwah]

Sounds like overmating, then.

 

[YWoody]

That looks like over breeding by an aggressive male or bullying by other hens. In either case, it's quail on quail damage.

She doesn't look bad at all, so I would separate her, give it a quick rinse with some saline to make sure it's clean, and in a day or two she'll be ready to go back out with the rest.

 

[YWoody]

Thank you so much Nabiki...
I was so concerned by how it looked, I'm relieved to hear that it doesn't look that bad to you. I will have my grandson do a gentle saline rinse of her poor head and allow her to remain separated for a couple days.
I soooo appreciate all you guys ❤

 

[YWoody]

Hello,
Just an update for you helpful folks...
My little hen ("Myrtle", who was being bullied) is much improved since we separated her for recovery

(I attached pic from this morning)
And you guys were correct; my Roo is the culprit. After observing them for awhile, grandson says the Roo is kind of rough with my hens.
Do you think I should separate him for a while?
Anyway, thanks again all.. I am breathing easier because of all your imput.

 

[Nabiki]

Personally, I would get rid of the male, but that depends on you. Separating him for a while might calm him down, or he might go nuts with mating once he's back in with them.

How many hens do you have? The normal ratio is three to five hens per roo, if he's particularly active, I would give him five to seven.

 

[YWoody]

Personally, I would get rid of the male, but that depends on you. Separating him for a while might calm him down, or he might go nuts with mating once he's back in with them.

How many hens do you have? The normal ratio is three to five hens per roo, if he's particularly active, I would give him five to seven.

OK, thank you Nabokov, those are good points to consider.
Currently have 5 hens & just the one Roo.
The only reason I kept one rooster is because I heard that the hens stop laying at about 18mos but the Roos can fertilize eggs for 5 years. So my thought was that if I have a Rooster, I could gather some eggs for incubation when my hens slow down their laying. But clearly he just might be more trouble than he's worth.