scalped! new, different issue page 4 post 39 will add pic

[klf73]

You also have to be careful what breeds are put together. These were game cockerals, I don't have experience with them(assumed because they grew up together this wouldn't happen till they were older) , my oegb are too small to bother anyone. I wasn't keeping them and I have no idea why they singled out my coronation. Maybe because the are so passive

. Even funnier is the fact the coronation were the largest in there. My Swedish flower hens didn't join in which makes me happy.

 

[halo]

I had an Ameraucana chick that this happened to. I didnt know what to do either, so I just took her out of the pen with her friends and kept her to herself to heal. Im not sure I even put anything on it. She's now full grown and out in the field with the rest. She does have a little bald spot on her head, but it did heal over with skin, just no feathers grew back in.

 

[hispoptart]

Sure hope your chickens get well soon. Thats so sad. I can't even imagine finding any of my chickens like that.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
Agree. I had one that was scalped very badly once - from the top of her head to the base of her neck - bones showing. Ick. I just seperated her, cleaned it with sterile water and applied Neosporin. No stitches, no antibiotics and no pain reliever. She healed perfectly. No sign of infection and she just had a small bald spot on her neck.

 

[klf73]

the better of the two was eating and drinking a LOT last night, he(?) will be fine. The other one ate a little and also drank. She(?) is moving about a bit today so I think it will be fine, I will just need to keep an eye out for infection. thanks for all the help and support

I have been doing this for 3 years and this is a first for me...

 

[klf73]

hmmm, well, my son's birthday was yesterday and he begged dh not to cull the 2 games. I placed an ad earlier on craigslist to give it a chance. I got an email right before dh got home from work. I have a taker, he was going to come get them today but he had to wait for a customer(he has a rabbitry). He said if we delivered we could have a rabbit. So tomorrow we are going on a field trip with the kids to see his rabbits. He has many rare breeds on the ALBC. I have always wanted a Flemish but the fair sells them for $40 and I just couldn't do it...so while he sold all his flemish yesterday he has a doe due soon and then we have to wait 4-5 weeks and he will just give us one of those.....

So it will be a nice, cheap, family field trip to go see the rabbits

. I just wish I could get feedback on the breeds to see the most kid friendly one....as we have only ever had a mini-rex..
My son is excited as they aren't getting culled....haven't told them about the rabbit yet

 

[Chilifur]

Hey - wow! How old are the Shorty Greys? My Pumpkin Hulseys, same age as the Brahmas, started fighting at 9 weeks old. At least one serious fight happened - the bird I *thought* was a pullet (peacomb) got into it with one or two of the other boys and wouldn't back down. Bigger boy held down the "pullet" and beat the crap out of him/her. No scalping or serious bleeding, but the face and head were so beat up and bruised that the bird promptly got named "Rocky." He was fine in just a couple of days!

They are all still hanging out together and are just fine. None of the Hulseys have been pulling any of that behavior to the point that there's any real fighting, just pecking order issues. Even with the Houdans running around that are a month younger. (One of them lost a fight to a metal wire and did the equivalent of slitting her throat, only on the back of the neck! Scared me to death as it was open to the muscle - within a week she's just got a healing scab and all I could do was wash it and rub Neosporin into it.)

BUT... None of the Houdans is bigger than the Hulseys AND the only pecking order issues amongst that age group seems to do with size - my Marans boy gets into with the bigger two Hulseys. The Brahmas, not so much because they just aren't aggressive, but the girl did get into a stare-off with one of the Hulseys last week.

Yikes - want me to wait a week while you get a handle on the Coros?

 

[klf73]

nah, they are in a separate pen. the coros are in the house recovering, just when I thought I could reclaim my downstairs bathroom

. Had a hen that was pecked at her behind and caused all kinds of problems, just started putting her outside yesterday...go figure, guess I am meant to have chickens in the house

the games are 8 weeks. They had picked on a couple of the swedish flower hens at first, couple weeks ago but nothing serious, I just pulled the ones getting picked on(2) and no one else was bothered. I also wasnt' sure who was picking on them. I think they also got into it with each other as they have bruising on their faces and a couple of scratches. Not sure why they picked on the bigger, passive coros...anyway, they are going tomorrow. Funny thing is they didn't touch any of the swedish flower hens(thankfully).

I have 5 brooders and dh starts new coop construction this week

you can wait if you want but it is not necessary. They are going into the rubbermaid shed

it's empty now so I am just going to use it.
If you want to wait the new coop will be usable next week. No where near finished, but usable. Let me know, not sure what your weather is going to be like, don't want it too hot

 

[klf73]

oh, I noticed one of the lav orps was kind of on it's side yesterday(same brooder). But then he was standing so I didn't think about it as I was taking care of the other ones. I went out this morning and he can't stand. looks like his knee(?) is injured. I think maybe he may have been caught in the fighting because he had no issues until then. I tried a chair for another bird and it seemed to cause more problems. can I just put him in a seated squat postition and just stretch his legs a few times a day carefully? I don't want him to end up like the other one with leg problems, still trying to figure if it would just be better to cull but it is a tolbunt and I really don't want to cull(it got stepped on by a brahma same age).
ideas?

 

[Chilifur]

No culling tolbunts! You can just send it to me - I've got my own little chicken hospital going on at the moment.

One of the senior Hulseys cut hit foot on something so, though he doesn't really need to be in the house right now, checking on it is a good excuse to cuddle with him. Even at 13 weeks, he is ALL ABOUT cuddling. Lovin' the preening-by-humans, scritching, and petting. So much for "tough guy."

Pulling the Houdan back in to check on her neck occasionally, and then we've got the full-time patient who's likely recovering from something he ingested.

Bloody scalps - you can keep 'em! Freaky on the ear pecking - I wonder if it's natural for them to go for the areas that are super-sensitive? Thank goodness you've got a win-win solution on those birds.

Just checking on the Brahmas - didn't want to contribute to "chicken overwhelm"!