irritated skin around neck

[christine4]

we've been raising 11 chicks we ordered through our mill store, mostly brahmas. When they were getting big (3 weeks) we separated them into two bins. One at the time seemed to be pink around her the back of her neck, so we put her in with fewer, calmer birds. Her neck has progressively gotten worse and today looks bloody. We put neosporin on it last night, but it just seems to be getting worse. No one seems to be pecking at her, and everyone else looks very healthy. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be and how to help her? Thanks for any comments..

 

[Judy]

Welcome! Sorry you had to come here with a problem.

Even though you haven't seen it, my guess would be that it is being pecked and / or they are pulling its feathers. You didn't give many details, like how old they are now and how much space they have, but it sounds like they need more space and probably to be in their coop. They also may be a bit warm. Where I live I had to turn the heat lamp off at 3 weeks because they were avoiding it, and mine brood in the coop.

 

[christine4]

Thank you for the reply, Dawn, sorry for the lack of details. They are 4.5 weeks old now. They were in bins in the garage under heat lights to keep it about 75 degrees (starting at 95, reducing 5 degrees each week). We noticed her neck about a week ago. Yesterday we put them into the coop all together (it is a good size for 10-12 chickens) and her neck is worse today. I took a photo and uploaded it, but I'm not sure if it will appear with my post - her feathers are clearly coming out. We're thinking to put a small animal crate into the coop and put her inside it until (hopefully) she gets better. When we moved everyone but her yesterday so that we could take a better look at her neck, she was wailing, so I hate the thought of totally separating her.

I have read about something you can put on them if they are being pecked but I can't remember what that is or where to get it.
This forum is great, I'm really glad I found it!

 

[Judy]

I'm so glad to hear you moved them into the coop. I think your idea of the animal crate is a good one, at least for a while. I imagine the product you're thinking of is BluKote -- it's basically gentian violet, an old timey antiseptic that stains EVERYTHING purple and is supposed to prevent them from bothering a wound. Actually there are several products that are supposed to prevent pecking. I found a generic version of BluKote at a TSC 25 miles from me; local feed stores carry nothing; they will tell you to use pine tar (in the horse section, I'm told) which I have read works pretty well but is messy (I can imagine....) You can get BluKote online for not too much money; I think even Amazon carries it.

Another thing. If you can watch them a while (and tell them apart!) you may be able to identify a ringleader or bully. In this case the one to separate is the bully. The idea is, keep her out for a week then return her, at which point she will be at the bottom of the pecking order. This is why I agree with you about not separating your injured one if you can possibly avoid it. Good luck!

 

[Judy]

BTW, I know nothing about photos (I didn't even have an avatar until about a month ago) but there are some threads on the FAQ page and in the BYC Website & Forum Feedback section about this. I do know there are several ways to do it.

 

[christine4]

Just a follow-up and hello. I found the forum when frantically trying to figure out what was going on with our chick in mid/late June. What a gift to find BYC forum and get help. Thank you, Dawn!! You were right, the chick's feathers were being pulled out. We isolated the bully as you suggested, and put the BluKote on 'Redneck's neck. She is definitely still the runt, but doing fine, we're really grateful for the help.