Hens hurt bad!

[Thecowboysgirl]

We have had a problem for awhile, the rooster rips out the hens' feathers when he mates them. Months ago I tried seperating some hens to heal but the hawks found them. I bought a few chicken saddles and put one on the worst hen and the rooster attacked her mercilously-- it was like he thought she was someone he didn't know.

I let it go on for a week hoping it would pass, she became so depressed she wouldn't come down off the roost during the day because the flock would attack her, esp the rooster.

We just had a broody hatch five chicks...she was seperated for a month. I just put her and the babies back in with the flock, we have done this before and everything was fine. I noticed her acting weird for a day or two and today I caught her becuase I saw blood on her back. He ripped her wide open, three inch gash with a big puncture I suppose where his spur came out of her after gashing her. She is bad off. My husband is an ARNP, we have some medical supplies, we cleaned & sutured her and put her in another coop alone.

Later, I started checking the other hens and FIVE of them have these awful wounds that were hidden under their winds, some are old and rotten and festering. I feel so horrible about this so please don't anybody flame me for letting this happen.

I have all five in the hen hospital with the first one, I don't know what to do for these wounds, like I said, some are old and the skin is partly dead and there is no suturing them now. I cleaned them as best I could with soap, water, betadine and put a bunch of triple antibiotic cream on them. They are all in there with antibiotics in the water.

We caught the rooster and clipped his spurs and filed them as dull as we could get them and also filed his other nails.

I can't kill the roo- he is the only thing keeping them from the hawks. If I put a saddle on ALL the hens will he learn to cope?

Will this not happen again since we filed him down?

Has anyone else had this happen? I have no idea if these hens will make it. The first one- the worst one, is the only one who acts like she's hurt, the others act fine despite these horrible wounds..

These hens have been free range their whole lives and have gone absolutely mad when I have tried to keep them locked up before when we were having hawk problems. The roo is a superb hawk attacker, he has singlehandedly fought off three different hawks, one that was much bigger than him. He is a great daddy to his little chickies, great husband to the hens except for this but this is bad.

help!

 

[leadwolf1]

I'm sorry this is happening and I don't think you will like my response...but, it is only my opinion. I do not think that he is a wonderful husband. You have 6 hens in the hospital where he has maimed them to the point that they might not make it. Even though he is a terrific roo for hawk protection, is it worth him beating up the hens? What's the difference in him hurting them or the hawk? There are so many nice roos out there that need a home, before they become dinner, that it just isn't worth it to keep a nasty roo around. I think your hens would thank you also.

As for the wounds, it sounds like you are doing all you can. The only other thing you could do is use some 50% peroxide solution and try to use it to debride the nasty wounds.

Good luck with your dilemna, it really is a tough position to be in.

 

[Chickmama74]

I have the same problem right now. I have a hurt bird and I have him in a crate trying to nurse him back to heath. I have 4 roosters and 2 hens. I when to feed them and I think one or the other roosters or all of them beat this rooster up. I had to take him in because I found him laying on his back and he could not flip himself back to his feet. He was laying in the rain. He is now in the house getting TLC from the family. I am giving him medicine and putting triple antibiotic on the wounds. I think that this is all I can do for him. You are doing a good job by doing what you are doing. I hope everybody comes out fine. Good Luck!

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

Are there roos who are as brave as he is but don't hurt the hens?

He's laid me open plenty of times. It wouldn't take much for me to eat him...I just know it won't take the hawks long to figure out he's gone. And I don't want to lose my whole flock but you're right---I might lose as many hens to the roo as to the hawks...

If he's gotta go..fine...

But if I introduce a strange roo now wouldn't he hurt this batch of chicks I have? there are five month old babies in the coop with the wife beater.

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

So sorry to hear about your hens. I had a similar one, where the roo sliced her skin off all down her side, an area almost the side of my whole hand! What's more, her owners didn't see b/c it was hidden under her feathers & since it was just the skin sheared off and no muscle damage, there was little blood. By the time I bought her at a swap (one of my "pity purchases"), it has been at least a week since the roo got her. In that week, she'd been going about her chickenly business and taking dust baths. When I got her home, I had to cut away matted feathers and dead skin, soak her side to soften the area, and clean the dirt out of her with Q-tips and tweezers, actually picking small rocks out from under what was left of the skin. There was nothing left to suture. I powdered her side liberally with sulfur (one of the cheapest and best antibiotics you can get) and kept her warm in a cage in the house. If I'd had oral antibiotics, I might have given them to her, but I didn't. The skin that was gone never returned (I haven't seen skin regeneration outside of in baby chicks), and the muscle eventually got a layer of thick scar tissue over it instead. Her wing covered it, and I made sure to keep my roo's spurs trimmed so it would not happen on my watch. This is an incredibly common thing, and many times, folks don't see it because the damage is hidden by the wing.

Generally, I'd say that unless a lot of time has passed, or there is some organ involvement, most chickens can survive most bodily injuries. Even areas where chunks of muscle have been bitten off or sliced out can heal. Sounds to me like you are doing everything just fine - you may want to try some oral antibiotics on the hen with the puncture wound, as puncture wounds are a whole different animal from most other injuries in terms of infection. Your hen who acts like she's hurt is the one to keep an eye on. Chickens that do not get "depressed" (listless, sleepy eyed, loss of interest in food, less active) almost always pull through.

As for the roo, definitely keep him trimmed. His spurs can get to be sharp little knives (as can his nails), and vigorous mating will result in this happening again if he stays sharp. His affections won't cause this kind of damage so long as you keep his "instruments" dull. Plus, now you know this can be a problem, so you can monitor him to see how rough he is, and also check your girls for damage regularly. No need to give your ladies a 'divorce' just yet. When the girls' wounds have healed over, you may want to release them in saddles (I use saddles to give once-injured-but-now-healed-and-temporarily-bald hens their freedom) all at once. This way, it won't be just one hen that looks different. Or, if you are crafty, you can make hen saddles yourself, that match your hens' feather coloring. Just a thought. I wish you the best of luck for your girls!

 

[leadwolf1]

I believe that there are many a good roo out there that will both protect your hens and not attack you or them. My NN roo guards over his girls wonderfully. He doesn't bother me or my children..I wouldn't have a nasty roo for this reason and, I don't like to be hurt either!....and he watches all the time for threats. I haven't had any hawk attacks so I can't tell you if he would attack the hawk or not. What I can tell you is that my daughter has a sweet little polish rooster that fought off a hawk and won! Saving his NN woman! He can be handled by her 5 year old.

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

Union Town-

The worst of the bunch, the one we sutured, she did act "hurt" and I do not think was getting much food in the coop but It hink it was because she did not want to come down to the floor because she knew the rooster would get her again.

She was the first in the hospital, I went out a bought her some mealworms and she did eat those like crazy, though afterward she just laid down in the corner and slept the rest of the day. When the other hens joined her in ICU, she did get up out of her corner and go to the roost with them and today she is walking around and eating. I really hope she makes it, she has been a great broody, is an excellent mother & layer.

Is it your experience that with rounded spurs the roo can't injure them like this? I didn't feel like we rounded off his toenails that well though we did the best we could. His spurs we clipped and then filed until they were quite blunt, I even tried to scratch myself with it and couldn't.

Forget hen saddles, I want rooster boots!

 

[leadwolf1]

I read somewhere that you could use the toenail covers like you would get for dogs and cats..the plastic ones that don't allow them to scratch and damage things...maybe, you could try those?

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

Lead wolf I will say this- I don't care so much about his aggression towards me. My kids are teenagers and they do help care for the chickens but we have all gotten savvy about how to get around him. Also, when he finally got to whup a few hawks, he seemed to quit coming after us so much. It was like he figured out where all the nastiness was suppsoed to go and then he felt better.

If he weren't such a good protector he'd be long gone...but our hens were dropping like flies- and we have personally seen him do remarkable heroics, one huge redtail he spured in the yard and knocked it senseless, and a little cooper's hawk actually came in the coop and the roo went in there and coralled the woman behind him and they were all in there together for ten m inutes or so before we could get the hawk but no one got hurt.

The hawks were so bad I had them crawling under a 5 inch gap at the bottom of a wall to kill my pullets on the other end of the barn. This roo singlehandedly put a stop to all that.

Anyway. I am not going to let him hurt the hens again and if I can't figure out a way to rehabilitate him lol then he'll go.

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

I really think he's most likely causing these injuries with his spurs, and if you keep the spurs trimmed, the injuries will stop. My Delaware roo has huge spurs, but they are curved up & have rounded ends naturally (??). I had a game banty roo whose spurs got wicked sharp and I had to trim them all the time. He never sliced open my hens but he gave my arm a heck of a scratch! One of our members twists his rooster's spurs off, but that's a little bloody for my taste. I think if you blunt his "instruments" no one will get hurt.

So happy to hear your initial hen who looked sick is walking around and eating! That's an excellent sign. As you suspected, she was probably suffering from shock and fear. I hill be hoping for her speedy recovery!