Help!

[jayn56]

I've got a brood of 8 chucks, 2 brhamas. I noticed my light Sussex's head was full of blood... She was fine but I seen her and my autsralorp and bluebell chasing and pinning one brhama. Her eye was closed, side of head lacerated and bloody. I quickly put the I here's bird out of the coup/ run to free range away from the rest as it was clear they would continue attacking her. I've put her back in the run to roost when the girls were in the chicken house roosting for the night so she was safe.
This morning I went to let her free range again and the rest into the coup/ run. Her eye is closed but eyelid not bloody, she was reluctant to open her other eye but mostly did after about 1 min. I'm planning on keeping her away from the girls until she is 100% better as I don't want bullying.
Do you think the eye thing is because she was attatched or is there a disease that does this? How can I best care for her? I'm scared I may loose her. She still wants to join the brood but I do think they'll attack her if she's poorly.
I've recently increased my flock by 3 and this has caused bullying issues. New girls are POL and are smaller than grown girls but this girl is a grown up. I think I've seen my top hen chasing her out the house/ best box x

 

[Pork Pie]

I'd suggest that you may wish to identify the aggressors and give them a time out from the flock. This should, in theory set them back a couple of steps in the pecking order (or if not, at least give the victim time to heal and hopefully allow the bullies to forget about the victim being fair game).

If you remove the victim for any length of time, it may only serve to alienate her even further and thus be more likely to be attacked once returned. You may wish to bathe the victim's eyes and ensure that there are no signs of blood as it can trigger aggression. Theres a good article on reintegrating a flock member:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/reintegrating-a-recovered-hen-to-a-small-flock

All the best
CT

 

[jayn56]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of it that way! I was thinking would it be a reward for the naughty girls to be free ranging? I'll give it a go. She does have dried blood on her cut, was scared of hurting her to try and clean her. Should I just use salty water? Thanks for you help x

 

[Pork Pie]

You are most welcome. Yeah, warm salty water will be fine and don't worry about hurting her - they are tough little things! Re: the aggressors and giving them a time-out, i should have been more exact. What i should have said is putting them in confinement (not next to the run - out of eye sight of the flock) and not allowing them back with the flock for a couple of weeks - kind of a "naughty step" concept. Sorry about the lack of clarity in my previous post.

All the best
CT