Open wound to chickens back

[ukjoncollins]

Hi guys,

Sure this is a pretty common one but just a little worrying for a fairly new chicken keeper. I've just noticed one of my little bantams has a big open sore on her back. See picture attached. Its a little worse than the picture shows as it goes quite far in. The feathers are falling out around it. I've sprayed it with the anti pecking, anti bacterial spray for now. I guess I should separate her tomorrow or cover her up. Its not really practical to keep her separate until shes completely healed so I'm hoping to borrow a chicken coat and keep the sore covered.

THe only thing thats changed recently which i think could have sparked this, is that they're given more free-ranging, scratching around freedom when I'm around. When I'm not around its just not possible to give them that freedom as we've got daytime urban foxes and neighbours cats which I know from past experience is not a good mix. The rest of the time they're in a fairly small coop on concrete. I give them veg a couple of times a week to peck at but between the three of them they demolish it with in hours and I don't really want to be giving them too much other foods.

Is this likely to be boredom or could it be something else? Any boredom solutions?

Its a bit of nightmare being an urban chicken keeper with a full time job!!

Thanks for your help,
Jon

 

[durlandsc]

I am an urban chicken person myself.... I had a similar situation when I introduced a pair of Silkies to my 4 hens. They did not like the new girls and proceeded to peck at them until they caused a wound that looks very similar to your chickens. I discovered after some research that chickens will peck at any open wound on another chicken so I would suggest keeping her away from the flock until she is healed. Could be they just had a squabble and pecked hard enough to do some damage and now they will not leave her alone. Hope that helps a little. Good Luck!