Molting hen being bloodied

[vantain]

Is this stuff clear so you can see what's going on?
Not sure 'peck no more' will deter pecking.

You'll just have to keep an eye on things.
She's a low bird so that's a problem too, especially if that was a problem before the molt.
Hopefully you have lots of space and places for her to get away from any 'bullying'.

It’s not clear, it’s a gray/purple color. She’s been the low bird since I had her inside for that earlier issue she had with her crop. And as soon as she started losing feathers, the others got even more aggressive toward her. She used to be the top bird.

 

[vantain]

Have you determined if it's a broken feather shaft that's bleeding, or if there is a pecking wound to the skin? Any blood present is going to draw more pecking and it will get worse, so you need to clean it up and stop the bleeding, wherever it's coming from. New feather shafts have a blood supply until they are fully formed and then the blood withdraws. Large flight feathers (tail and wing) have large shafts and can bleed a lot. If it won't stop with pressure, or with flour or cornstarch applied, then I would pull the shaft and then put pressure on the spot it came out until the bleeding stops. A large shaft can kind of act like a straw and allow a lot of blood loose. I would keep her separate in the crate until you know the bleeding is stopped (so you don't end up with a bad wound) and isn't going to restart.

Before I took her back outside to roost for the night, I made sure there was no further bleeding. It did appear to have stopped. I did clean up all the blood. I realize the others may resume pecking her in the morning, which is why I will separate her then, and she can spend the day in a crate, in the run, with the others.

Right now, she’s roosting, in between the others, and they are not bothering her.

 

[vantain]

I put the big pen up in the run. It certainly reminds me that I need to expand the run in the spring. Her tail feathers looked fine this morning, and it doesn’t look like she bled anymore last night.

She’s not happy to be in that pen, but the others can’t peck at her either.

 

[vantain]

So..I just checked on her, and freshened up her water. She is looking great, and the tail feathers are growing rapidly. They are all almost an inch longer than last night. I also got some pinless peepers that I will probably put on the other two girls tomorrow. Then, maybe, I can let them all be together, and they won't terrorize Winnie so much and pluck at her emerging feathers. That said..having her in a cage in the run seems to be doing nicely for now.

 

[vantain]

Following the advice of others on this forum, I moved the small "jungle gym" thing into the middle of my run to break up the open space. I also removed the pen I was using to keep my molting hen away from the pecks of the others. It seems that only one of the other hens is doing the pecking of my molting hen, and only in the afternoon. Must be boredom at that point. In any case, having that one thing in the middle of the run seems to be doing the job. It gives my molting hen plenty of place to easily get out of reach of the one doing all the pecking. She's happy to be out of the temporary pen.

 

[vantain]

Just thought I would update you all on my molting hen. She's pretty much fully feathered again...AND....she laid an egg today, so she's back to business!

She also has regained her "queen" status as the top hen, so in her world, all is well again.