My buff Orp was found with wound...Can I prevent by better mgmt?

[jen61975]

I have 22 hens and 1 rooster, I have several large breeds. My live-in boyfriend called me at work and told me one of our buff orpington hens was unlively and so he thought she was smothered or dehydrated. He lifted her up and took her to water and noticed a big wound on back of her neck(penetrated the flesh

) I was so sad when he told ne this..he said he thinks she got pecked to death (he had to put her out of misery). Such a sad day, they are 24 weeks old and I watch them and care for them every day, NEVER seen any of the other hens beating up on her..has anyone had this ever happen? All my hens are in a big mobile coop with huge fenced in run, so I can't believe itd be another animal..thx for any thoughts!

I will also note that we lost another buff a cpl months ago due to it getting smothered, maybe they are low on the pecking order?? Other hens just disregard them?? Very sad because they are my favorite of the 5 breeds I have!!

Thanks for any opinions/thoughts!

 

[5Leepy!]

Is it possible it was your rooster? Perhaps he was over-zealous? Or, he may have created the initial wound while mating and then the other chickens would go after the wound as well, that's their instinct. I'm no expert but I think you should examine all of your birds for similar wounds (back of neck and between their wings) to see if he may be the culprit.

Good Luck!
5Leepy!

 

[jen61975]

Oh thank you for the reply! I will check em all tmrw, I did notice the other day when he was mating that he bites there comb (to kinda hold on lol) so it's very possible he grabbed farther down on this particular hen. She was the runt of the hens so maybe she took the most beating from him?? I try not and watch too much of that activity lol...I guess I will have to pay more attention and inspect them more. Everything seemed like it was going so smooth too! Figures. I'm only 24 weeks into my first hen raising experience so I know I will learn a LOT as I go...just hope the rooster is not gonna cause too manny problems because he's a very nice, beautiful and mild mannered Speckled Sussex.

Thanks again 5leepy!

Jen

 

[5Leepy!]

Yeah, I'm pretty new to this myself but I do know that chickens will go after wounds if they see them. My husband learned that the hard way. lolololol He has a cut on his ankle and those pesky chickens won't leave it alone! And, don't go into the coop with red or pink toenails or fingernails... same idea. My chickens always go after this white ring I like to wear... it's a big white plastic flower. I make sure to take it off before I go outside and visit with them.

So, if your rooster wounded her even slightly, the other hens would see the wound and keep pecking at it. You can try some Blu Kote (I think that's how you spell it)... you spray/paint this over the wound and the other chickens won't mess with it so it can heal. Check your hens every once in a while to look for any wounds or keep an eye out for pecking and have that stuff handy.

Also, from reading these forums I've found that chickens can survive a LOT of damage. Look through the emergencies forum and you'll see chickens that have been completely scalped or lost a wing or a leg and survived. They're tough birds so try to give them a chance to heal even if it doesn't look like they could possibly survive something.

Good Luck!!
5Leepy!

 

[jen61975]

5leepy- thanks once again, very valuable info u shared

I will buy some of that and have handy. And very true about chickens being resilient, I wasn't home when he found the hen but I'm hoping he used his best judgement. I will read your reply to him so in the future he will understand this stuff!

Thanks again for taking the time

Jen

 

[chickenpredatorkiller]

that same type thing happened to me... one day I went outside to check on the chickens and one had a flesh wound, except it was on her head. We thought that it got hurt somehow and the other chickens just made it worse, but later we started losing chickens and so we put out a trap and caught a fat raccoon. so Im 90% sure that the raccoon scratched or bit the chickens head. If i were you I would check for feathers laying around or any signs of a predator.