Rooster Went Nuts...Brutally Attacked Hen (MORE PHOTOS ADDED)

[Davian]

So, I have a small flock of 5 birds (1 rooster and 4 hens). The rooster was a Delaware and the hens were 2 BRs and 2 Golden Wyandottes respectively. The rooster has been a pretty good boy so far (he's 9 months old now) but the last couple days he's been very aggressive towards the BRs. He started mounting both of them repeatedly and 1 of them finally had enough and challenged him. He attacked her and ripped out all her head feathers yesterday. I rinsed her head with saline and then an iodine wash and then coated it in blu-kote. This morning, he went for her again and basically scalped her completely. He also went after the other BR as well. He wasnt trying to mount either this time, he was just attacking them. She lost all of her skin from the top of her head all down her neck. Its a pretty gruesome wound. I cleaned it as best I could and I've brought her into the house in my nursing pen (basically a baby's playpen that I use for raising chicks) but she doesnt look good. The rooster has since been put down because I simply cant have him hurting the hens that way. He was always a tad rough with them but I was hoping he would outgrow it as he got older. I guess he was just a bad seed.


So...is there anything I could have done differently and what do you recommend for that type of wound? I dont want to put blu-kote on it as its such a deep wound. So far, I just rinsed it with saline and then a mild iodine wash and I'm leaving it open to the air to heal that way. I've seen chickens survive some pretty bad injuries but I'm somewhat doubtful that she's going to make it.

Thoughts?

 

[leadwolf1]

Sounds like you're doing great. I would keep her in a quiet place and add some neosporin or another antibiotic to the wound care. Watch for signs of infection...keep it clean and I think she has a good chance....as you said, they can survive some amazing stuff!!

 

[stoopid]

Bacitracin, cover it so the flies don't get to her. Can you post pics?

 

[rungirl]

Step 1: Kill the rooster.

Step 2: Treat the hen's wounds.

Cleaning her wounds as you have done is exactly right. Separate her so she doesn't get picked on. Keep the flies out of it. (There is an wound ointment for this they sell in pet stores for fly strike that works) Chickens are very resilient. They heal surprisingly well. I've seen some deep wounds on chickens and as long as you keep them clean and prevent infection, they usually heal.

Good luck.


Lisa

 

[Davian]

Quote:
The rooster has already been taken care of. I actually took him to the local Vet and had him put down that way as my SO didn't want me to do it myself. I will put neosporin on her wound and post photos.

 

[dawg53]

You're doing a great job. Just keep using the neosporin as long as necessary til she heals.

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

This exact thing happened to one of mine. She's a BR also. She pulled thru just fine.

This is what I did:

1. Keep her inside. Watch to see if she's in shock. Mine was and I stayed with her until she pulled out of it. If she's in shock, keep talking to her and petting her until she perks up. When she perks up, she will shake her head and try to stand up, then she may shake her whole body. Make sure food and water is in there for her too. She will not eat or drink if she's in shock.

2. Keep it clean and put Neosporin on it for a couple days. I did not cover it, I left it open to the air. I don't have a fly problem in the house, so that was not a concern. Just keep it moist with the Neosporin. You will see it kind of oozing a clear liquid. That is her body responding to the injury and trying to heal itself. Kind of like our white blood cells rusing to a wound on us.

3. Once it started to scab over, I put Blu-Kote on it and re-applied every few hours. I started letting it dry itself out. The scab will cover the wound. Every so often she would scratch at it with her foot and scratch it open or scratch the scab off. I just applied more Blu-Kote. Once I knew she was out of the woods as far as infection was concerned, I only applied the Blu-Kote every couple of days.

4. The skin will eventually grow back and then the feathers will begin to grow again. She won't be bald back there.

I had to keep mine in the house for about 4-6 weeks. I tried to put her back out a few times, but the flock wouldn't accept her back and they were pecking at her wound. Eventually I did put her out there in a rabbit pen right beside of the others so she could be near them and they would get used to each other. She's good as new now and back in with the flock.

I know this must be very scary for you right now. I know exactly what you are looking at and I hope this helps you some. Roosters need 8-10 hens to mate with, but that's no excuse for what he did. Keep us posted.

 

[Davian]

It was never really part of the plan to get a rooster anyway...he was an accidental rooster (supposed to be a girl) in the first place. He never had any issues up to this point so it was a shocker when he did it.

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

I love the idea of a play pen as an infirmary!! That is such a great idea!!

Hope you have a top on it so she don't jump up out of it. May want to figure out some way of building a roost for her in there. She's gonna be there for a while.

 

[Davian]

Quote:
It has a stretch netting top that came with it. With healthier birds (one without a major head wound), I would put two old glass windows on it but I dont want her slamming her head into that so I'm just using the netting for now. I used to have a perch made of a decent sized birch branch nailed down to 2 pieces of firewood that went along one end...I guess I will have to make another one.

Re-integrating her with the other 3 should be fun.