HELP! I have a chick with some damage from Roo's!!

[twincreekfarm]

Our pullet Laya, who just started laying, has some major damage to her side and all i can think is that when the Roo's have been mounting her their nails are digging into her. They don't have spurs yet. She was missing some feathers on her hind end and upon further investigation under her left wing the whole side is gashed to the flesh. There's no blood but it is getting infected. So I cleaned it as best I could by flushing it and then applied neosporin very heavily in the area. I'm concerned that she won't recover from this. She acts just fine and I have brought her in and away from the Roo's. Is there anything else I should do?

 

[Wynette]

I can't speak to treating her injury, but I HIGHLY recommend chicken saddles for my girls that the roos like best! I had one that was missing most of her feathers on her back, and since wearing the saddle, all feathers are growing back in nicely.

Someone will chime in on what to do for the gash!

 

[silkiechicken]

Just keep it clean, I've had whole flaps of skin get torn open on birds and they healed up. What are the signs of infection you are seeing?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

You have done what I would have done.

 

[bluebaby1]

I have a question,
what is a chicken saddle.


I feel kinda stupid right now, but i wanna know.

 

[twincreekfarm]

As for the infection, it has some puss and some greenish areas to the skin ( not very big). What s ironic (and shows how stable these birds really are!) she didn't lay an egg last night, I think I messed up her clock by messing with the wound and keeping her in the house. But this afternoon we were doing yardwork and i let her free range then we brought her in the house and she got all nestled and laid another pullet egg for me. Kinda like "thanks for taking care of me mom"!

I too want to know what saddles are and where can i get them? With having 2 Roo's, they like to mate for competition I think. I even saw my first 3 way!! A Roo was on top on a pullet and the other roo jumped on him! And here I always heard rabbits were bad!!!!

I have to say I would be lost without this forum! i love all of you so much for your support and kind words and even getting eggscited too when my girls started laying! You all are wonderful!

 

[speckledhen]

Here is a saddle, made by a BYC member, but I have no way to contact her now. The pattern is fairly simple. Elastic goes over each wing and there is another style in a crisscross elastic over the chest pattern, too.

 

[twincreekfarm]

Wow thats cool! Thaks so much for sharing!

 

[twincreekfarm]

UPDATE! The area under her wing is looking pinkish, is that a good sign? Before it was whitish/yellowish. We still have her in the house penned up. We've let her out a little to stretch herself (DH took her outside).