Reintegration after comb injury

[sakerobot]

Chicken info:
Barred Rock hen.
Hatch date 5/3.
Started laying eggs around mid November, continues to lay unfazed after injury.
Flock consists of 7 BRs and 2 Buff Orpingtons of same age, all are hens.

Issue: On Sunday the 19th, I noticed some blood on one of the roost bars in the morning, but assumed it was from egg laying. At noon I noticed blood on one of the hens, and discovered that the comb on one was bleeding and the others were pecking at it.

We immediately took her to the house basement and cleaned her up, then applied some bluekote with a cotton swab. She stayed the night in the basement, and dripped some more blood that night. The next day there was no bleeding, and the day after I tried to put her with the flock, but after about 10 minutes a couple of them became too focused on her comb, making loud noises, running after her and trying to peck her. I separated them again.

I built an 8x8 cage adjacent to the chicken yard, so that they can see each other through the fence. I've been putting her there during the day when she's not laying, and bringing her to the basement for the night. It has been 10 days, and my questions are:

- When would it be reasonable to try a full reintegration again? I will supervise them for at least a couple hours, but I don't want to cause extra stress by attempting too soon.

- The outdoor temperature has been falling to 19F at night, while in the basement the affected hen might enjoy a more leisurely 50F or warmer. Will it cause her any stress to suddenly have to sleep in cold temperature again?

Attached are images of her comb from this morning, and of her in the isolation kennel.

Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

Is that (bullying) how her comb was first injured? I don’t like to separate chickens outside of the coop unless necessary, but 10 days could bring some pecking. I would put her out and stay there for awhile. When I bring back broody hens from their pen after 5-6 days, they may get chased and pecked a time or two, but usually it is over soon. If they are rough on her, I would place her inside a dog crate with food and water smack dab in the middle of the coop, run, or where they hang out. Then try letting her out again until they ignore her.

 

[sakerobot]

We have never witnessed any bullying, though that remains a possibility. Maybe something sharp or a branch got caught and triggered the whole thing.

Today as I was bringing her in on the evening, I noticed she was bleeding from the comb again. I'll assume it's possible that someone pecked her through the fence, or maybe it opened up on its own somehow. Tomorrow I'll line the fence at the bottom with chicken wire so that they can't put their heads through, just in case. Even if it wasn't one of them, the newer injury could attract more attention.

We'll see how she looks and feels and try supervised visits in a couple days. They've been exposed to each other for 8 of the 10 days through the fence, for several hours a day.

 

[sakerobot]

This morning she delivered an egg without a shell. I think maybe because while she had access to layer pellets at night, during the day while being outside she couldn't access sufficient calcium. I added a tray of layer pellets for her outside kennel, and also dropped a bunch of oyster shells in her area. No other bleeding today, I applied Vaseline to her comb.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would give her a human calcium citrate tablet for the next several days to a week, in case she is low in calcium or having reproductive disorder. Stress, a defective shell gland, reproductive infection, being a new layer, and low calcium levels are some causes of shell-less eggs.

 

[sakerobot]

We will try adding those. Today when she was outside around noon, I noticed her acting very tired. She was standing on the ground and closing her eyes, so I took her and her portable nesting box back inside. She drank some water and then went into the nesting box. She has not delivered any more eggs yet. After resting, she is eating and standing outside of the box, but she of still not fully energetic.

The comb on the other hand appears to be healing up well, there is a scab that's stuck to some feathers while new ones are growing from beneath. No new tears.

Can delivering a bad egg cause a hen to act fatigued the next day?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would clean off the scab with saline and put some Neosporin ointment on it twice a day to keep it from drying out. Yes, laying a shell-less egg can make them feel lousy, and sometimes there can be another egg on the way.

 

[sakerobot]

This morning she produced another shell-less egg, but she is feeling much better now. She's talking, walking, eating, and she even bit my finger. This morning we let her outside and offered her crushed egg shells that she ate eagerly. She also has full-time access to layer feed and oysters. She's been scratching around for a few hours now and still acting normal again, which we're really happy to see.

We picked up the calcium citrate, saline and neosporin. Will try supervised reintegration this weekend if things continue to go well. Thank you for all the advice.

 

[sakerobot]

I also got a plastic milk crate to make a nesting box that will be easy to clean in case she has any more accidents.

 

[sakerobot]

Updates: on Sunday she did not lay any eggs, but continued feeling better and being fully active after the second shell-less egg.

Because of snow we did not yet get to reintegration, but she has spent time every day in her isolated outside run.

Today, less than 10 minutes ago, she laid a perfectly strong shelled egg, and she announced so with a loud egg song.

Comb is looking good, no new issues.

Will try supervised mingling soon.