My chicken has a bloody patch on the top of her head. What do I do??

[aaron511]

My chicken has a large bloody patch on the top of her head. I don't know how it got there, and what i should do. Help please!

 

[Indiana hens]

Isolate her if from pecking. antibiotic cream too. Same as if u had the problem.

 

[txliss]

Poor baby! If the wound is not too deep, it is likely from a pecking order disagreement.

Clean it and gauge the depth. You can put neosporin (without any "caine" meds) on it, then coat it with BlueKote to keep the other birds from messing with it. If it is deeper, I think you can still follow the same protocol, you just might have to keep a closer eye on her for infection or other complications.

Good Luck!

eta: Welcome!!!!

 

[Judy]

Quote:
More info would help. Are we talking about a hen with a roo in the flock, being mated? Are they being kept "cooped up" from weather? How many chickens, and how much space? If you have a flock of hens with no roo, probably the one at the top of the pecking order was too rough in her pecking order activities, or maybe is generally too rough. If you have a bully hen, you probably need to isolate her for several days to stop they bullying and drop her down in the pecking order. You could have too many roos, or a roo who is too rough on his girls when he mates. You could have a bunch of stressed chickens who need to be let out to roam before they do really serious damage. Chickens can turn into their own predators.

For a single injury, I usually clean the blood off and BluKote then put the chicken back with the flock so I won't have reintegration issues later. Thus far, the blue has stopped them from pecking the wound further, or else they just weren't interested.

 

[aaron511]

Thank you all! The injured hen lives with only one other hen. Where can i get the blue?

 

[Judy]

Got mine at TSC, actually it's a generic form. It's a wound antiseptic, gentian violet, which also gives it that blue color. Some people have had some success just using blue food coloring. I keep reading it's sold at feed stores but not at mine. There are other products intended to discourage pecking, no-pic, pine tar, I don't know what all. Some people have some luck with Vicks VapoRub; not sure I'd put that on a wound, though.