Henpecked chicken?

[Lizzydrippin]

Hi everyone.
Any advise for me please..... One of my little hens was attacked by something today (cat? Dog?) found it about two hours ago covered in blood and missing all.its feathers along her back and most of her skin on the back of her neck. We phoned the vet who recommended purple spray which we got and applied. We've put her in a crate and we're keeping her indoors in a nice dimly lit quiet room with some water and food. She has her eyes closed but is breathy nice and steadily. Anything else I can do? Should we try and nurse her back to health or are we fighting a loosing battle?
I'm now starting to think that maybe my little chicken has been henpecked? My chickens are approx 28 weeks old and two of them have recently started laying, one for the last 3 weeks And the other for about a week. As my hens mature, would they start a pecking order or would that have been established already? My hens are all from the same brood, have always lived together and have always seemd to get along with no problems.
The reason I'm thinking this now is that I find it very odd that my chicken was attacked by an animal now when they have been free ranging for ages with no problems and we have three very good chicken guard dogs roaming around all the time as well as humans.
I really want to figure out how my chicken became so badly injured so I can prevent it from happening again. Thanks in advance for any advise.

 

[Tanichca]

Hi everyone.
Any advise for me please..... One of my little hens was attacked by something today (cat? Dog?) found it about two hours ago covered in blood and missing all.its feathers along her back and most of her skin on the back of her neck. We phoned the vet who recommended purple spray which we got and applied. We've put her in a crate and we're keeping her indoors in a nice dimly lit quiet room with some water and food. She has her eyes closed but is breathy nice and steadily. Anything else I can do? Should we try and nurse her back to health or are we fighting a loosing battle?
I'm now starting to think that maybe my little chicken has been henpecked? My chickens are approx 28 weeks old and two of them have recently started laying, one for the last 3 weeks And the other for about a week. As my hens mature, would they start a pecking order or would that have been established already? My hens are all from the same brood, have always lived together and have always seemd to get along with no problems.
The reason I'm thinking this now is that I find it very odd that my chicken was attacked by an animal now when they have been free ranging for ages with no problems and we have three very good chicken guard dogs roaming around all the time as well as humans.
I really want to figure out how my chicken became so badly injured so I can prevent it from happening again. Thanks in advance for any advise.

It's possible that these injuries are from a predator and then the other hens just pecked at them and made them worse. Or they were all caused by other hens. I lost a hen a few weeks ago that just got henpecked, which does happen even when birds were raised together.
Give the girl lots of food and clean water, spray her with blu-kote (the purple spray) and cover her injuries with vaseline to protect them. Give her oats and cat food to promote feather and muscle growth. Hopefully, she'll pull through. She has a better than fighting chance.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would put antibiotic ointment on the wounds while keeping her caged in the coop with the others for a few days. The BluKote helps when they are back together. Then spend a few hours with them when she is reintegrated into the flock to make sure she isn't attacked. Give her the regular chicken feed, along with some scrambled egg or canned tuna for extra protein. If you notice bullies they can be separated for a few days to reduce their rank in the flock. Unfortunately some chickens just get picked on.

 

[Lizzydrippin]

Thank you both for your replies. My little hen is still with us. We are treating her with the BK and the wound has dried nicely. We have been trying to get her to eat and drink but apart from giving her water thru a pipette she has not really taken food or water. I have offered Apple which she took a few nibbles of, scrambled egg, pumpkin seeds, her usual pellets but she's just not interested. She does stand sometimes and has a poop and then lies back down again. She seems alert with eyes open.
We still have her in a big dog crate with straw, food and water in our house which is quiet and calm and not too bright. Not sure what else we can do for her.
Any suggestions on how to get some protein into her? Oh, she did have a few drops of probiotic yogurt yesterday evening.

 

[Eggcessive]

By now you may want to crop or tube feed her. If you buy some aquarium tubing from WalMart or a pet store, and burn the end of it to soften the edges for inserting into her throat, you can also get a 60 cc/ml syringe to fit the end of the tubing, and will have a makeshift tube feeding apparatus. KayTee baby bird feed is also available at pet stores, and can be used to feed her. You will want to give her liquids first, then start feeding after she is well hydrated. Casportpony has some good links on tube feeding here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding