Natural remedies or otherwise for a bloodied chicken

[IndigoJaguar]

My Americana hen was attacked by my rooster today. The back of her head is torn to bits...down to the cartilege, I would say. She is still acting very alert and walking around foraging, but I wondered if I need to keep the other hens from pecking her bloody head and how to quickly heal the gaping wound. I took her in the house and ran water over the area, and then poured calendula tincture over it...which is for wounds. Then I let her go out and free range with the other hens. It looks really bad....not just a scratch....but she is acting ok. Suggestions to keep her from being pecked, how to heal the wound, and preferrably natural remedies.
Oh...she is a year old and weighs about 5-6# I would say. She ate a bunch of corn I gave her; haven't seen her drink at all, but that is normal.

 

[Miss Lydia]

clean it out real good with soapy warm water and then if you have it put something like bluekote on it . if she is still with the flock I would advise you to mask it with bluekote or they might just kill her if they see blood and wound.. Bluekote has gentian violet in it which is natural..she should be fine as long as the rest leave her alone.

 

[IndigoJaguar]

Thank you! I hope she will be ok tonight and tommorow with the other hens. I don't have any blue kote (actually had never heard of it), but I am going to town tommorow. I put a really big sticky brown bandaide over the wound. Do you think that will be ok until I get to town? I live about 20 minutes away from town, but if I thought they would kill her before I get there, I might make a special trip! They do free range, so the only time she will be in close proximity and unable to get away is in the coop tonight.

 

[IndigoJaguar]

Should I keep her in the house in a cage until she heals some? Will it be a shock to her system to send her back outside then after being in the warm house?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'd don't think a bandaid will help much. but if you get them out early in the morning before they have a chance to mess with her. we'll hope it will be okay.. Chickens are drawn to blood and open wounds and have been known to canabillize their own.. I would try to get blue kote as quick as possible and if this rooster keeps this up I think I'd try to find another roo also.

 

[Miss Lydia]

might be a better idea to keep her away from the flock till at least you can get the bluekote for her and it's not expensive either.

 

[IndigoJaguar]

I caught her and have her in a dog cage for the night. I decided to be safe rather than sorry. I called TSC and Big R; neither one of them have bluekote.

I'm not sure what else to get.
The rooster is going bye-bye as soon as my husband gets home on Wednesday. I just can't kill a chicken.

He has been not letting her anywhere near the flock for about a week, but today is the first he attacked her. Then he tried to attack me; bye-bye rooster! I will not have a violent bird. I don't care what his reasons are.

 

[LedgeWoods]

Having a similar issue with hens picking at another 2 hens. Blukote seems to deter the pecking (and provides a dead-giveaway as to who the pecking culprits are by their purple beaks!) Check with a local vet clinic for Blukote - that's where I got mine.

Is it "spring fever" or need for protein or overcrowding that causes the hens to turn on each other like this?? I've been throwing extra BOSS out for them to up the protein the past few days, but they are still being little devils with the pecking.

 

[IndigoJaguar]

Well....my rooster has been chasing my hen off for more than a week and not letting her near the flock. I thought maybe it would get better, but instead he ripped her head open. I don't know if it was deliberately malicious on his part, but I have to assume so since he has been singling her out for mean treatment. If he hadn't been, I might just think he tried to mate her and got too rough.

 

[wholisticmidwife]

I use golden seal for my hens its endangered so you can also use solomans seal or just cheap witch hazel!