Need help quickly please...

[philter4]

I have a fantasticly colored Americana hen about 6 months old. She is by far my favorite hen, she is dominant among her sisters and all of them (12 new birds) has been in the flock for more then 2 months with no problems once the pecking order was established. Tonight I went to put them away and her back right above the tail is all torn up, featherless and open. There is no more bleeding but any time another hen sees the wound it begins to peck at it.

Any suggestions on how to treat and what to do to stop the pecking, because it is cold here, I live in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, I can't easily separate her in anything but a small bird cage.

 

[cbenson6820]

Spray it with blue coat and separate her until she heals. I had a turkey that got attacked by some wild critter a few weeks ago. She had a huge patch of skin and feathers missing in the middle of her back, like the size of my whole hand. I sprayed it with blue coat and put her in a cage in my garage for about a week and a half. She was going great, was still raw on her back but was healing nicely, so i opened her cage to let her free range and get some sunlight and she walked across my property and was scratching around the chicken fence all day until it started to get dark. When it was time to roost she jumped the fence, and went in the coop. I figured her back was purple and not red so the chickens probably wouldn't peck at her wound so i left her in the main coop. The next morning when i came out the chickens and other turkeys had pecked her so bad she had no skin on her back or sides. She was so messed up i culled her as soon as i found her. Lesson learned.

 

[Smoochie]

I'd separate her in the small cage as it is better than others pecking her wound (and they will being chickens to death!). Just give her small yogurt containers of food and water until she heals. Also, dress the remainder chickens with no pick solution (such as blue Kote) you can pick up at your local livestock store. She won't be the only once picking starts... Picking is often brought on by over crowding, boredom, and lack of protein. I would sprinkle some cat food on the ground and make sure every chicken as 4 square meters each in the coop.

 

[philter4]

Thanks for the advice, the next morning she was OK, the wound was scabbed over and during the day it was not picked on. I got some Blue-Kote just to have on hand for emergencies.

As far as why, there are about 20 hens in this group (I have a separate group of chickens in a different part of the property) and unless it is raining and at night they free range on about 1.6 acres so overcrowding is not the issue. This is the smallest part of the property but there are only 18 chickens so they have LOTS of room. There are 6 older birds and the new group is around 6 months, all of them have been together for about 3 months with the first month they were in a 10 X 10 area to be introduced to the older birds. She was (is?) dominant until they were released into the flock but within a week os so there was no more issues with the pecking order until the other day. With that in mind, any ideas what could have caused the initial problem? No other hens have any marks, missing feathers or signs of fighting and as far as I can tell she was not picked on since the other day so I think if I keep it clean and don't get an infection it will be fine.