Injured chicken

[kimadoodle]

Came home today to find my speckled Sussex hen had been attacked, she has been bleeding near her tail feathers and on her back, they are in a closed pen so it had to be one of the other birds. We ended up with three roosters in the flock of eight. She's rather weak and sleepy, can't seem to stay awake. The bleeding seems to have stopped, I brought her inside, provided food and water, she only drank a small amount. Any other suggestions as far as trying to save her? We had already been considering getting rid of at least two of the roosters, think I may need to get rid of all three. Will hens do this to each other? I'm a first time chicken owner, so I wasn't sure.

 

[BuffOrpington88]

Wash her wound out with a saline flush, Vetricyn would be the best. You can also make your own saline. If it is not a large area, some triple antibiotic ointment like bacitracin or neosporin would be good, or Blu-Kote. You can bandage with a gauze pad, sterile gauze, and vetrap if it is possible, but if you use Blu-Kote is not necessary. Then, give her water with electrolytes to replace the lost fluid. A hard boiled egg will most likely stimulate her appetite, and put a lot of it in the water so she gets some fluids also. Also moisten feed to make it more palatable. Make sure that she drinks the electrolyte water, which is most important.
Good luck!

 

[TeamChaos]

How is she doing today? I've had a few hens get attacked by overzealous roosters and it's terrible. It's not uncommon for a chicken to act tired/ be in shock for quite a while after the incident.

 

[kimadoodle]

Very sad to say she died during the night. I guess my question now is do I get rid of the three roosters? I really don't want this to happen again. We've been debating over maybe keeping just one or getting rid of all three, one of the roosters attacked my son's hat last week scratching his face in the process.

 

[BuffOrpington88]

Sorry to hear about that.

You might only have to get rid of 2, but a good ratio for is 1:8. Depends on how aggressive the roosters are.

 

[kimadoodle]

Thank you, she was a very sweet girl. I will definitely find homes for two of the roosters, and maybe see how things go with the third.