Please help!!!!

blue eyes 2011

Hatching
8 Years
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
7
Hello, This is my first time on this site so please bare with me. We have 4 chickens no roosters that are 14 weeks old. This morning when we went to tend them we found 2 with injury's to their backs rite above their tail feathers, looks like pecking damage,feathers are gone , blood,ect.. looks bad..Then before we could remove them thy all were pecking at the damage area including her self. They were fine last night when we tended them. What could have caused this to happen? What should be done? Please help....Thanks
 
It could be the establishing of pecking order. Remove the injured chicken (--what is its breed?) Next, watch the behavior of the flock.
 
Hello! Welcome from Ohio! I am so sorry, this kind of stuff is really upsetting when you're new with chickens. Not sure if you'll ever know what happened, but I'm thinking maybe a predator, possibly a raccoon may have grabbed them, pulling out their feathers causing blood. Then, chickens are very attracted to blood, so they will naturally peck at it. Sometimes chickens even do this pecking and feather pulling to eachother.

Here's what I would do: First, check each chicken for any signs of parasites (that might be a reason they would peck themselves or eachother). Then, really look around your coop and run to see if there is any place where a predator could get at them.......Or any signs of a predator maybe chewing on the chicken wire or trying to get in.

(I am truly guessing at what happened.....just giving you a few ideas.)

I would then buy a product called Blue Cote. The farm store has it, and it comes in a spray form, or a bottle. You can spray the wounds with that. (They will look bright blue, as if ink was spilled on them.) The Blue Cote will help the wound heal and sort of disguise it, so the hens won't peck at it. They're just not interested in the color, I guess.

Now, don't worry, if your two chickens have bald spots, their feathers will grow back. If the entire feather is gone, it will grow back, but if part if it (like the shaft or stem) is still there, it won't grow back until the next molt.

So sorry this happened, and I'll bet things will be fine soon. Take care,
Sharon
 
There are 2 plymouth baedrock and 2 are road island reds. The problem will not be predators yet because they have not been placed out side as of yet, was getting site ready for them. We di remove from the others.
 
Just had to say
welcome-byc.gif
. I hope you will find answers to your problems here. There are hundreds of very knowledgable and helpful people here. Good luck!
 
Wow -- RIR (Rhode Island Reds) are generally more aggressive than BR (Barred Rocks).

Following chicmom's advice will be the thing to do. If you cannot get any bluecoat, you can use vaseline or neosporin to cover the wound. Be sure to keep her away from the others until healed.
 
Thank you so much, we will do that. Do you think it's pecking order thats going on?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom