Pipd's Peeps!

[2ndTink]

Not sure what happened, but when I opened coops this morning, I found one of my pullets looking like she'd been in a heck of a brawl. Her face is swollen and bruised, her head partially scalped, and she was covered in dried blood when I found her. I'm like 90% sure she was completely fine last night, no one acted like there had been a predator attack yesterday, and the coop was closed up tight with no signs of predator infiltration, so it almost has to be that another chicken beat up on her. She's one of the pullets that Perdita raised and taught to perch, so she was up on the roosts last night. She was perched next to Trixie, who's a wicked little witch, and the injury is on the side of her head that Trixie would have been closest to... But Trixie has no blood on her, and I'm just having a hard time believing, even as wicked as she is, that she would do something like this. I really don't know.

For now, I've cleaned the pullet up and moved her to the brooder where the OEGB girls and Gwenyth were during that cold snap in January. She's in good spirits, appetite's good, she was preening herself, and her eyes, though puffy, both appear to be fine, so I think she'll be okay. She just looks pretty rough at the moment. Pictures in a spoiler for anyone that doesn't want to see them. This was after I'd cleaned her up as much as I could.

Spoiler: injury pictures

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Oh no! I hope she heals quickly ❤ and hopefully whoever injured her won't do it again.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh no! I hope she heals quickly ❤ and hopefully whoever injured her won't do it again.

For sure! Maybe I'll start moving Trixie to another roost away from the pullets at night, just to be safe.

 

[2ndTink]

For sure! Maybe I'll start moving Trixie to another roost away from the pullets at night, just to be safe. View attachment 3740347

Hopefully that will help!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Her eyes look a little bit less puffy this evening, comparing her to those pictures I took this morning, and she's seeming more herself again. Gave me plenty of attitude when I tried to show her the water container again. I think she finally has that figured out, as she drank for a while from it. Then she came over to the edge of the brooder and talked quietly while I sat there. She insisted I hold some pellets in my hand for her to eat, too. Not sure what that was about, but I was happy to oblige.

Her name is Nora. It just clicked for me while I was sitting with her. I'm pretty sure she was a keeper anyway, so I guess that makes it official now.

 

[2ndTink]

Her eyes look a little bit less puffy this evening, comparing her to those pictures I took this morning, and she's seeming more herself again. Gave me plenty of attitude when I tried to show her the water container again. I think she finally has that figured out, as she drank for a while from it. Then she came over to the edge of the brooder and talked quietly while I sat there. She insisted I hold some pellets in my hand for her to eat, too. Not sure what that was about, but I was happy to oblige.

Her name is Nora. It just clicked for me while I was sitting with her. I'm pretty sure she was a keeper anyway, so I guess that makes it official now.

Nora is a perfect name for her, it seems a lot of animals will tell you their name if you listen. I love it when a name clicks. I only have one chicken with no name, nothing has fit.

I'm glad Nora is doing better tonight how cute that she made you hold her for, definitely a keeper!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yes, I love that, too! It makes me so happy when I find a name that clicks just right with a bird.

I have a bunch of pullets and some cockerels left to name still, but to be fair I still am narrowing down which are keepers and which aren't, so naming has been a bit tricky with them.

 

[2ndTink]

How is Nora this morning?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Nora's doing good! She was eager for her breakfast this morning and bawk-bawked at me the whole time I was getting it dished up for her. She's super chatty today! Doesn't look like the swelling has gone down much since last night, but that greenish bruising on her face has faded and she's got a more normal color to her skin now at least.

 

[2ndTink]

Awe, love their little bawk-bawks! A good appetite is a good sign, hopefully the swelling will start to reduce today.

Keep eating and chatting Nora, things are on the mend

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Nora update, today versus when I found her, non-injury side:

Injury side; not much difference here, but her swelling has come down a bit, especially her earlobe and wattle, and her color is better (spoilered for those that still don't want to see it, though):

Spoiler: pictures

I've unfortunately just now discovered that she has mites, though. Another mite treatment needing done. I may go ahead and get a fresh bottle of Elector to see if that helps, and we're definitely going to keep treating biweekly as long as I can stand to to see if that gets rid of them for longer. I'm so sick of treating them for mites!!

That means I'm going to have to clean out and treat the brooders once Nora moves back outside, too, and wait at least 4 weeks before putting chicks in there, just to be safe. I was hoping to put her back outside fairly soon anyway so that she can reintegrate into the flock without too much trouble, but as long as she's back outside before the end of the month (and nothing else comes up in the interim), that shouldn't interfere with my hatching plans for the year at least.