Serious injury to the back of hens head

[juniper rain]

Our rooster has been extremely aggressive to one specific chicken. Open bloody wound on the back of her head. Happened just today. Rooster is being slaughtered as I type this. What can i do for my poor girl? TIA.

 

[the poppster]

Our rooster has been extremely aggressive to one specific chicken. Open bloody wound on the back of her head. Happened just today. Rooster is being slaughtered as I type this. What can i do for my poor girl? TIA.

Isolate her...stop the bleeding...treat it with an antibiotic...like triple antibiotic ointment...keep her isolated from the rest, till it starts to heal....or the others will peck at it....if they get going....they usually don't stop till the "Target" is removed or dead.

 

[KayTee]

First of all you need to clean and disinfect the wound (if you haven't already done so - please forgive me if I am stating the obvious).

Then you need to consider if the wound is likely to encourage other birds to peck at it. Chickens are curious, and will peck at anything that is red or obviously different on another bird. If so, you should try to keep the injured bird isolated for a few days, in order to allow the wound time to heal.

However, this depends a lot on your setup - do you have a space to keep a bird separated from the others, or are you prepared to have a 'house chicken' for a week or more? Also, will the bird be very stressed at being isolated from her flock, or is she likely to accept it after a day or two?

There is also a product called Blu-Klote, which is a germicidal and fungicidal spray that stops other birds picking at a wound - this is useful if you cannot keep your bird separated - it will help to heal the wound, and also change the colour, (birds will pick at red things more than any other colour), so that your girl is less likely to get attacked by the others whilst she is healing.

It would be good to be able to see the wound - how big / deep is it? If you could post a photo maybe we could give you some more advice.

 

[juniper rain]

I'm not sure why this is not allowing me to upload a photo, but it's not. We have her isolated. I picked up some first aid saline wound wash, antiseptic solution, and triple antibiotic ointment. It's a pretty bad wound.

 

[juniper rain]

Btw, it's through her skin. There is about a half dollar sized opening that is down to muscle around her neck/head.

 

[Sojourner2]

Wow, almost sounds like it's Vet time, but otherwise you are doing all the right things! Just tonight had a girl get the same treatment but not nearly as bad as yours. definitely isolate and keep away from pests, flys etc!

 

[Mr Beaks]

This same thing has happened to two of my own so I know it can be stressful. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I just wanted to make sure you knew to use the antibiotic ointment without the pain reliever or "caine" in it. Also, you definitely want to keep her seperate. As another poster said, chickens are curious creatures and I am confident that her wound will get pecked at. The pullet pictured above took approximately 2 weeks to heal (indoors) and had just a couple of feathers out of place due to scarring and believe me when I say EVERYONE noticed.

 

[the poppster]

This same thing has happened to two of my own so I know it can be stressful. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I just wanted to make sure you knew to use the antibiotic ointment without the pain reliever or "caine" in it. Also, you definitely want to keep her seperate. As another poster said, chickens are curious creatures and I am confident that her wound will get pecked at. The pullet pictured above took approximately 2 weeks to heal (indoors) and had just a couple of feathers out of place due to scarring and believe me when I say EVERYONE noticed.

Poor girl!!! You did the right thing to eliminate that Roo....I would have done the same thing...Some Roos won't take No for an answer...and savage the hen in the process of trying to mount her....I eliminate any that get to aggressive with the hens or me...I've found that the hens that are willing just crouch and allow the rooster to mate..no fuss...no wounds... Hope she is doing well and healing...they are so resilient and delicate at the same time...good luck!!!!

 

[juniper rain]

Update: hen seems to be on the mend. She is separated, and the open wound appears to be doing much better. We actually re-homed the roo. I although think my hen, daisy, is very stressed. She's pulling out feathers from her back. Any tips? Thanks for all of the advice. It helped and is much appreciated!

 

[the poppster]

Divert her attention if you can...treats mixed into a pile of leaves....my birds Love Sunflower seeds....some birds mess with their feathers when they are about to molt...they may be itchy...other then broodys plucking their breast feathers bald...I haven't noticed any pulling any others out....some come lose while they are grooming....she might have something irritating in the area?