Please help, raw swollen skin on chick's neck

[Mantisquailman]

I second that.

 

[rehsanipoor]

So right now they are all free ranging and nobody is pecking her. Because she's mostly black, the blue-kote really does kind of "hide" the area well. She could see the other girls before but I'm not totally comfortable letting them all sleep with her. I think I'll keep her apart during the night when we aren't watching and let her be together when we can keep a closer watch.
btw I am now blue also, unfortunately it doesn't blend with my coloring as well as hers!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Plenty of room

Now we have seen the others pecking her. When I got them out this morning she looked worse. I have separated her and will go to the feed store after work. She is very stressed about not being with the others. How long do I keep her apart? Is there anything else I should do for her?

What is plenty of room?

 

[rehsanipoor]

What is plenty of room?

The coop is 4x8 (this is for night time). During the day the temporary run (which is under the coop) is the same. Our new run will be 9.8x13, plus they will have access to the coop and the current run. We have 9 chickens (standard size). Is that enough?

 

[Mantisquailman]

I'd say it is enough room

 

[rehsanipoor]

When they are free ranging they leave her alone but in the run/coop they are pecking her. This leads me to believe that this may be mostly a boredom issue. The new run should be complete in the next day or so and I'm hoping the change of scenery and space will put a stop to the pecking. In the mean time I'll let her free range with them but otherwise be separated. She is miserable being apart from them.

My kids were in tears listening to her last night. I was able to put her in the coop and keep her apart using a clear tub and garden fencing. Poor little thing

 

[rehsanipoor]

Her neck is not looking much better, maybe even worse. We've used Blue-Kote and separated her from the flock. She does appear to be pecking and scratching herself a good bit. I am updating her picture below as well as including a pic of her vent. I don't think I see any mites but am not confident in my ability to spot them. Please let me know what you think. Is there a way I can make her more comfortable or prevent her from scratching?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

When they are free ranging they leave her alone but in the run/coop they are pecking her. This leads me to believe that this may be mostly a boredom issue. The new run should be complete in the next day or so and I'm hoping the change of scenery and space will put a stop to the pecking. In the mean time I'll let her free range with them but otherwise be separated. She is miserable being apart from them.

Learned bad habit, but if only pecking when in tighter spaces, this may indicate that they need more room, so hopefully with the new digs things will begin to resolve.

Yes, she will be miserable being apart from them and sometimes separations can make picking worse.

Do you ever see her dust bathing? I don't see anything that says mites or lice, but she sure does look irritated. A light dusting of Permethrin based poultry dust may be worth a try.

 

[Mantisquailman]

I don't see any mite's, you could also do a dusting of diatomaceous earth around her pen

 

[rehsanipoor]

Just wanted to update. We ended up going to the vet. She was looking so bad! They gave us antibiotic and something for inflimation. They found 1 microscopic mite under the microscope from a scraping so they gave her a dose of ivermectin We went home and replaced all bedding and did a dusting of DE. Which I'm pretty sure was overkill but I figured better safe than sorry.

Poor little chick (Beatrice) was acting pathetic. So low on the pecking order, hiding, eating alone, etc. We had never seen anyone pecking her, but then we finally caught the culprit who had been pecking her. We tried several things and finally used pinless peepers for the bully. Now she is doing so much better. She has no feathers on her neck or back of head but she is healing and acting so much better. Back in the mix of things. I feel so badly that we didn't see the pecking. I think a lot of it was going on in the coop at night. But peace has been restored and our little Beatrice is happy!