Sections of skin is gone. Did the roosters do this?

RaptorMom

Chirping
6 Years
Nov 8, 2017
41
18
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I found this girl in the corner of the coop this morning. It is hard to see in the photo, but the skin on her head and the lower section of her back is completely gone. Would these injuries be from the roosters (we have 2) fighting over her? She was a little roughed up yesterday, but nothing to this degree.
Is it worth trying to get her back to health at this point of should I put her out of her misery?
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If a rooster is a little rough, he can cause a wound that bleeds. Unfortunately, that can make all of the other birds peck at the wounds.

Is she able to stand, drink, eat? What is your ability to care for an injured chicken? Not the "know how" part; people here on BYC can help coach you with that. I mean the willingness to undertake the task if it's a long job.
 
Chickens can be very resilient. I've seen birds recover from severe wounds. They do have a tendency to suffer from shock when injuries happen. Is your bird willing to drink anything.
 
She is very lethargic. I tried giving her some water, but she wasn't interested in either a container up to her beak or a dropper. I don't mind trying to care for her, but it hurts me knowing the pain she must be in and how much more I might add in trying to treat the wounds.
 
I found this girl in the corner of the coop this morning. It is hard to see in the photo, but the skin on her head and the lower section of her back is completely gone. Would these injuries be from the roosters (we have 2) fighting over her? She was a little roughed up yesterday, but nothing to this degree.
Is it worth trying to get her back to health at this point of should I put her out of her misery?View attachment 3696190

She is very lethargic. I tried giving her some water, but she wasn't interested in either a container up to her beak or a dropper. I don't mind trying to care for her, but it hurts me knowing the pain she must be in and how much more I might add in trying to treat the wounds.
It could be from the roosters.

She's likely in shock. Give her drops of sugar water (1tsp sugar, pinch of salt and pinch of baking soda to 1cup warm water) or if you have electrolytes give those.

Clean her wounds with saline, chlorhexidine or betadine, trim feathers away from the wounds on her back so you can more clearly see and tend to them. Do check around under her wings along her body for more in injury, sometimes with roosters wounds can be found there too.

Get more photos once you've cleaned and trimmed.
Apply triple antibiotic ointment to her wounds, leave uncovered.

Keep her relatively warm.

Hopefully she will begin to perk up a little soon.

Depending on your setup, hen to rooster ratio, etc. sometimes roosters need to be separated out. 2 ganging up on hen is not the ideal situation, they will likely target another since she's been removed.
 
I had a hen that was hurt similarly, when she was egg bound and couldn't get away from the other hens. I treated her for egg binding, she laid her egg. I cleaned the wound gently with soap and water and applied Neosporin. She made a full recovery. Examine your hen to see if there is a reason the hens may have attacked her, clean her up, keep her warm and dry and away from flies and the other chickens.
Those kind of wounds heal fine. There is no need to euthanize her because of that. The issue is, why did the other go after her, and she couldn't get away?
 

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