Not only are feathers gone and she's bleeding but my hen had a sticky film keeping her mouth shut...

[culver chickens]

I posted earlier that I found my Buff Orpington without back neck feathers and bleeding. Well, when I went to tend to her this evening to get the wound cleaned I had noticed (as I noticed through out the afternoon) that she really wasn't drinking or eating. She had some straw stuck to her beak so my husband got a hold of her and I wiped off her beak which had some of what looked like dried blood. I noticed she wasn't pecking and thought she couldn't open her mouth so I wiped her beak clean. I then with my fingers took the wash cloth and opened her mouth a bit and noticed a clear sticky film that seemed to be keeping her mouth closed. I got it all wiped out of her mouth and she finally got to pecking at me a little. I then took a bit of water and dripped it in her mouth and she was drinking like she hadn't in forever.
What is this sticky film and what in the world is wrong with my hen? From my earlier feed she was either attacked by an outside critter or severly pecked by a bully hen in the coop but as for the film I just dont get it. Any help would be great!

 

[culver chickens]

Also, could she be sick with something?

 

[zooweemama]

Feathers sounds like her feathers were plucked. But the mouth thing- could she have eaten a slug? Ducks eat them and their mouths are nasty and slimy but they drink oodles of water and clean their nares out. Chickens don't do this. So maybe she ate a slug or snail and couldn't get that nasty slime out of her mouth?


If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

 

[culver chickens]

No slugs or snails at our place but I sure wish it would have been that easy so I could put my mind to rest. Thank you though!

 

[culver chickens]

After furthur investigation we found clumps of her missing feathers outside of their run over by our garden a couple feet away and then some more a few feet away from that. Im thinking outside critter. We have tended to her neck but have found she wasn't drinking water and had a clear sticky film keeping her mouth shut. I wiped it all out and we've been feeding her water but in the process found a hole in her neck from water dripping out of the back of it.
So, my question now is.....will a hole actually heal or is this a fatal wound that perhaps we should put her out of her misery? She's not eating and not drinking on her own.