Pecking over nest box caused injury

[Chicken Mom Leslie]

I have nine laying hens and three nest boxes. This morning, one of my hens kept chasing two other hens out of whatever nest box they tried to lay in. One of the hens got injured (she is bloody right behind her comb). I rescued the other one as soon as she laid. Two questions:
(1) How do I (or do I even need to) treat the injured bird. It's not serious, but I'm not sure if it can get infected.
(2) How can I prevent this from continuing to happen?

Thank you!

 

[Shadrach]

Pffttt, I've seen worse injuries from a kiss.
A drop of Betadine or similar wouldn't do any harm.
Let them sort it out. The nest box hen fight is a fact of chicken keeping. When they stagger out with half their comb missing, black eyes and wings ripped off, then intervene.
Seriously I know the fights and bickering can be distressing but ime they all do it and nobody dies.

 

[Chicken Mom Leslie]

Thanks. This is my first group of chickens and I'm a bit nervous. Also... sorry about all the pics. I had trouble uploading (obviously) and couldn't figure out how to delete them.

 

[micstrachan]

I personally would let it be. Roxy has scabs all over her comb all the time from being picked on by Margo. I just try to provide lots of free range time and high quality feed to support good behavior.

When Roxy was a pullet, she had a bad scratch with dangling tissue on her wattle. I did treat that one with triple antibiotic ointment. My Barred Rock, Bridge, had a significant comb injury when she was younger, too. I’ll try to find before, during and after photos to make you feel better. She’s as beautiful as ever, just with a shorter comb.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have nine laying hens and three nest boxes. This morning, one of my hens kept chasing two other hens out of whatever nest box they tried to lay in. One of the hens got injured (she is bloody right behind her comb). I rescued the other one as soon as she laid. Two questions:
(1) How do I (or do I even need to) treat the injured bird. It's not serious, but I'm not sure if it can get infected.
(2) How can I prevent this from continuing to happen?

Thank you!View attachment 1729521 View attachment 1729521 View attachment 1729521 View attachment 1729521 View attachment 1729521

Something like that I leave alone, it will scab over and heal fine.
Nesting box wars there's always a favorite box no matter how many you have, I usually don't interfere too much in those either, they have to work some things out.

All mine are laying right now, so there's a lot of carrying on - there was a bit of tension here as well over "the box" between hens - it all worked out.
Yes, she's perfectly fine, combs bleed like crazy and drip onto the face making things look worse than they are.

 

[micstrachan]

Before:

During:

After:

 

[TropicalBabies]

Thanks. This is my first group of chickens and I'm a bit nervous. Also... sorry about all the pics. I had trouble uploading (obviously) and couldn't figure out how to delete them.

Good morning Leslie,I'm impressed one, your chicken is so clean and white! I could not believe my eyes so glad you had multiple photos. I found if i treat the multi photos like letters and either backspace or delete it gets rid of them. Once you download photo you can post the size you like even if deleted. Does that make sense?
I'm also impressed you have 9 layers and three boxes. I have 8 layers and 6 boxes and they all line up for one box... which one? The one that another hen is in of course. Drama, drama, drama! Chickens....

 

[GC-Raptor]

How do I (or do I even need to) treat the injured bird. It's not serious, but I'm not sure if it can get infected.

I keep these on hand. . .
I've never had to use the wound cleanser. But I used the cover up once or twice for feather picking.

This morning, one of my hens kept chasing two other hens out of whatever nest box they tried to lay in.

How can I prevent this from continuing to happen?

If the same chicken is forcing others out of the nest boxes on a regular basis. I would get rid of the BULLY. GC