Need to dub my Wyandotte hen ( photos added showing outcome)

[azygous]

My very first post here was about my nine month old SLW hen getting her comb half ripped off by her pen mates. Now it's happened again.

She has an over-developed comb that has a tail hanging out in the back like the Wyandotte roos have. All her sisters have very concise combs that hug their heads. I fear it's this conspicuous protrusion that's inciting the others to peck her comb.

I'm thinking that dubbing is necessary to keep this from being a chronic problem. But I could use some advice. She's a bleeder. Each time she gets her comb torn, her head is drenched in blood, no doubt encouraging further attacks. By the time I discovered her today, she smelled like raw meat.

Has anyone got any dubbing advice?

Has anyone else had a Wyandotte pullet with an over-developed comb?

 

[jeslewmazer]

Dubbing would probably be the best option. Easy to do, but there can be a lot of blood. Sharp scissors are a must. After cutting applie pressure to stop/slow bad bleeding. You will need to separate because of the blood. I have come across a few websites that might help. Pictures would help I think. I'll try to find them

 

[DTchickens]

http://www.freewebs.com/cajunyankee/dubbing.htm.

 

[jeslewmazer]

http://www.freewebs.com/cajunyankee/dubbing.htm
This one is pretty detailed. In person is always the best. Seeing it and doing it is different than reading about it. If you have any local people who have any experience that they would share would be better than anything I could try to type on here.

 

[rittert3]

I agree that dubbing would be the best option, chicken are so odd in that rarities and deformities are so common well just have to deal with them as best we can as they come along. O also I wouldn't worry about doing a full dubb as the comb is the only thing causing problems with her.

 

[azygous]

I appreciate all the help. I think I'll be good with it. I'm trying to find someone who can come up and help hold her steady. She's a good, tame little girl, but when I touch her comb, she shakes her head fiercely. I know I'll probably be shaky myself, and I don't want to cut off more than just her over-hanging comb.

When she had her first torn comb, I super-glued it back down, and it held for about two days before her cruel sister pecked it loose again. I kind of saw then that her over-abundant comb was going to be a constant problem, but I couldn't bear the idea of cutting it off.

Now I'm resigned to it.

 

[azygous]

The comb dubbing is done, and it was both easy and hard. I had two friends help, one to hold Alice the patient, and the other photographed the procedure.

I'll try to post the photos, but it's the first time, so I don't know if I can get it to work.

I first dunked her little head into a bowl of ice water, then I cleaned the comb with alcohol. I took my sharpest sewing scissors, and cut away, close to her head, all the loose and protruding comb. Then she got dunked in ice water again and swabbed with more alcohol. It bled like a sucker so I dusted her head with corn starch and that stopped the bleeding.

The crate i put her in to recover had little head room and she kept shaking her head and bumping into the overhead. It began to bleed again, also she opened her pecking wounds on the fore-comb.

I got her out and cleaned her up again and let her wander around the house until the wounds dried. But several piles of poop later and after she flew up onto the kitchen stove, I moved her into the shower stall with a tub of pine shavings and food and water. I won't attempt to reintegrate her until she's well healed and danger of the wounds being re-opened is past.

Well, I tried to upload the photos, and it didn't work. I'll work on it.

 

[HEChicken]

So sorry you had to go through this. Question - from the research you did, do they have many nerve endings in the comb? I.e. did this appear to be a painful procedure for her?

As for posting pics, if you look at the blue menu bar above here (where the index, user list etc are), there is an uploads option. Click on uploads, which should open up a new window. You will be able to browse your computer for the photo you want to upload. Once you have found and selected it, choose the size you want it to appear. I usually choose the one that is for message boards since, ahem, this is a message board

. Then hit "submit" and it will upload the photo to your "BYC album". Once it indicates it is done (will depend on the size of the file and your internet connection how long that takes), it will provide a URL for your photo. You can copy the URL onto your clipboard, then go into your post and simply paste the URL where you want the pic to appear. If you are copying the entire thing, you do not need to worry about using the IMG button in the compose message window.

 

[azygous]

Alice did a number on the shower stall. She's now wrapped in a warm towel and is under my arm as I write this. I'll try to get the photos up in a bit when I get my breath.

It didn't seem to hurt her much at all. She didn't screech or struggle at all. It was apparent that she did feel it, though I doubt it was a very high level of pain. After it was all over, she appeared to semi-faint. She never lost consciousness though.

She's her feisty self now, and in spite of the slaughter-house appearance of the shower stall, her wounds seem to be drying out, and the bleeding is at least slowing.

She's now panting, so I know I need to get some fluids down her.

I'll be back.

Yay! I did it!

Alice is now enjoying some window-grown lettuce and some home-made peanut butter flock block.

I doubt I'll ever get that shower stall clean.

 

[bonniebe]

fyi, you maybe could have used a styptic pencil. you can usually get them in a drugstore, by the razors. it is used to stop the bleeding if you cut yourself shaving. also helpful if you cut a dog's toenails too short.