polish hen anyalated by other hens

[milly2000]

i need some advice with what to do, i have a small black and white polish hen with a pompom head. overnight her head was severely pecked by the other hens, she is currently very weak and hardly able to hold her own head up. ive bathed her head and am currently sat cuddling her wrapped in a towel. sould i do anything else or just keep her warm and watered???

 

[chicmom]

Poor little thing! I don't know why that happens. I think maybe some vitamins and electrolites in her water might help perk her up. And if you could spray or dab a little blue cote on her head, that would help it heal. (Her head will be bright blue, but it's good because if she goes back with the other hens, they're not attracted to the blue color, like they would be if it was red.

Good luck to you!
Sharon

 

[TinyChickenLady]

Does she have any open wounds that need to beg cared for? Any injuries anywhere else?
It's good that you cleaned her and got her away from the bullying.
If you can answer No to my 2 questions, then I would say you're doing everything right. Sounds like she might just be sore and scared and just needs some cuddle time for a while.
Next time it happens, I would put the bullyers in time out

 

[milly2000]

yes she does have open sores on her head but i cannot see any bone so hopefully its going to heal. she is just starting to take little sips of water but still not eating yet. hopefully she will perk up sooner rather than later

 

[TinyChickenLady]

I would suggest putting some blue bote or neosporin on her head and maybe covering it if they are bad wounds. Other than that, just keep spoiling her for a while.

 

[zzGypsy]

this is one of the issues with having polish and why I no longer keep them. the fluffy tops are a magnet for plucking/pecking by the other birds and once they open a wound, chickens will peck at it until the poor bird is dead. the crests often keep the injurred chicken from being able to see the attack coming, somewhat like blinders. you may have to keep this chicken separately once she heals or at least in a pen with chickens that don't pester her.

there's another recent thread on using pine tar to dress their heads with the idea that the ones pecking get a mouthful and don't like it so learn to stop pecking. some folks think it works, some don't and everyone thinks it's messy (pine tar is sticky stuff) but if you search on "pine tar" you should find it and can make your own decisions.

 

[greymane]

The pine tar idea sounds like it would have merit, but we use BlueKote and have been very happy with it.

 

[zzGypsy]

I think the biggest purpose of the pine tar is to teach the other chickens to stop pecking the polish, although it has healing properties also. does bluekote taste bad? I've never tried it...

 

[milly2000]

thankyou everyone for your help and support. she has started opening her eyes and is drinking and being a lot more receptive. we have decided to seperate her and her man from the others along with five blue and gold laced wyndottes as the seven of them are being bullied. we are going to build them a run and hen house of their own as we feel that they all and she inparticular do deserve the peace and the space. we are looking to buy both blue cote and pine tar as they seem to come well recommended, and see how we find them. again thankyou for all the help xxx