help, pecked on new chicken - what do I do?

[newchknmama]

I added 2 chickens to our flock yesterday and one got attacked this morning.. her whole earlobe is bleeding and she is not looking so great.. I seperated her but now I dont know what to put on her wound or what to do. will she be ok?

 

[newchknmama]

Well I cleaned it with saline and put some neosporin.. can some one at least tell me if that will be ok. I seperated her gave her food and water and she seems content for now

 

[newchknmama]

Wow everyone is usually so helpful.. I can only hope what I did was right.. and I didn't get one response. I put the other chicken in with her that was the same age and she nuzzled close to it and chirped so she seems happy. her side of the face is very swollen but it isnt bleeding anymore and it doesnt look like the other chicken is going to bother her. Thanks anyways.

 

[ChickenSahib]

Did you allow for any grace period? I.E. them seeing but not able to interact? Or just letting them interact while free ranging? Or did you just stick them in the coop?

 

[newchknmama]

We let them free range all afternoon and no one paid them any attention. I let the older ones go to bed first and then later put the littler ones up there after they went to bed. I closed pop door and this morning I checked on them and everyone was fine. I let them out and I suspect at breakfast the older ones started in on her and pecked her. She was bleeding pretty well. I have her in the playpen with the other young one now and we are going to build a larger run so I can have 2 feeders out there before I try and introduce them again. I dont really have a way for them to interact without being together except for when I let them free range during the day. I just hope she heals up well and we can introduce them later

 

[Nicole01]

I kept a wire dog kennel inside the coop to keep my 2 small flocks separated. I let them out only supervised. It took a solid 3 weeks before I let them out unsupervised. I didn't allow any pecking for those three weeks.

 

[allieloveschickens]

She will recover, I had a hen scalped by the rest of the flock (I was trying to add two new hens) keep it clean and separate her from the others until she heals a bit. Then keep her in a crate or kennel for a while inside the coop or run so that the others get used to her- chickens can be very mean!

 

[nalisea]

I have found that "triple antibiotic" ointment heals most chicken wounds. Just make sure they stay clean, washing with saline is great. I agree with everyone else, unless you are introducing quite a few birds at the same time, keeping them in the coop but in a cage is a nice, calm way to go. When I know I am going to introduce a few new birds I normally move mine around a bit, just to keep them on their toes, before bringing the new birds in. They are too busy trying to get the best spot on the roost to notice the new ones, when they do notice the newbies the pecking order is already in place. Just a thought.

Good luck!