Hello, I dont post much but read alot..heh The other day my wife went to feed the chickens and noticed blood all over the run, and in the egg box.. she checked all the chickens and could only notice the one who is normally the head hen. Her combs where bloody she didnt know what to do and called me, I was already on my way home, I checked her and as I was another hen was pecking at her combs. We brought her in, used neosporin and a heat lamp on her and she has recovered, I put her back in last night.. today she is totally isolated, and I have seen two peck at her.. Should I be worried? what can I do to get her re-assimilated into the flock? she has only been out a few days, she actually recovered must faster then I thought she would (Physically) it worries me cause she is not even fighting back and she was usually the first one to start squaking when the neighbors cat would come to check out their run.. she actually went after the cat before so she is not usually so timid... Any help? I do not have another coop to house her in permanently and if she needs to be removed or they will kill her.. I will have to put her down.. which I would hate to have to do
I have three thoughts. First, she has lost her place in the pecking order, and that is what started the pecking. After being separated for a few days, it is always a risk to re-introduce a chicken alone. Take out another chicken (just one) and house them together for a few days. Then when they are brought back out to the others, there will be two newbies. It is also possible that she cut her comb on something (or it froze to something metal momentarily) and the sight of blood triggered the attack. Lastly, she may be sick without you seeing symptoms, and the others sense it, and are in fact trying to kill her.
There is a page on my site linked in my sig below on "Keeping Peace in Your Chicken Coop." Some of the ideas there may help.
