Silkie with gashes from rooster damage

[bobbieschicks]

I want to make sure I did everything I could to help her heal. I found my silkie has two cuts, one on both sides of her back, where the LF rooster has dug his nails in while mating her. I noticed it today when I picked her up to put her back in the run and noticed what looked like blood on my arm afterwards. I examined her and noticed the two gashes. So I put Nustock on each wound and covered her back where he's damaged her feathers as well. She is hiding the wounds well with her feathers so they may have been here before and i just didnt notice. She stinks but I let her back into the run with the general population. I'm thinking of separating her out but don't want to stress her further.

What do you suggest? Should I get any type of bandaging for the wounds? Will Nu stock be a sufficient wound med? Should I separate her or let her be? She's a tough brood and manages to take care of herself usually, but I don't want to loose my best broody.

 

[sourland]

I would definately separate her from the rooster. This sort of rooster damage generally heals quite well this time of year. In the warm weather infestation with maggots generally causes problems. It is not an uncommon problem when large or multiple roosters breed smaller hens.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Thank you. She was doing such a good job avoiding the silky and Maran roos, but today I saw her get grabbed and the big maran was on her. She will have to be on her own with keeping away from him until tomorrow after noon as that will be the soonest I can get the crate. Hopefully she will heal completely and be ready to brood again in the spring, which Phil says is coming soon. She is a good momma.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I couldn't find a small enough crate at the local Walmart. The smallest they had was for a 30lb dog and 25" tall. Way too big to be a solution for my coop.

I will just put up wire on that end and block her in like I used to do when she was broody. The problem is she isn't broody right now and I'm worried she will hurt herself trying to get out of that side of the coop. Hopefully she won't mind the recuperating area.

She did a good job hiding today under the coop with the silky babies she hatched 13 weeks ago. I'll get out there tomorrow in the daytime and wire her off from the others.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I don't have welded in the shed just the 1/4" hardware cloth. I'll have to pick up some cage wire tomorrow. I thought she was doing fine and then I found her with the gashes open and another pullet trying to peck her. So I put her in a cat carrier with some pine shavings for tonight. Hopefully she will be fine in there over night.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I managed to wire up half the coop for her to stay in while she heals. She was quite content to hang out there most of the day. I checked her wound that was gaping open yesterday and today it's already starting to scab over. I think I'll put some more NuStock on her tomorrow. I'll keep her alone there about a week and then put a friend in with her to keep her company until her feathers regrow.