What is wrong with my hens comb!?

[humblehillsfarm]

When did Bella last lay an egg?

Could be the angle of the photo but her crop looks quite prominent so I would go out early in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink and feel of her crop. It should be flat/empty.
While you are checking her crop, look her over for lice/mites and feel her abdomen for bloat/swelling or feeling of fluid.

I would encourage her to eat her normal nutritionally balanced poultry feed.

I'm a little confused as to the source of your quotes because I don't think it's from this thread.

But if you did look at the images, she's fluffed out because she is broody so her dietary intake and water intake are much lower than usual.

I did check her for mites but I don't believe that was the initial cause.

It seems like a pecking injury that happened to your chickens comb.
I don't think that there is anything bad apart from other chickens pecking your chicken.
If you have another coop you could try and isolate her so that she doesn't get pecked.

Another alternative is that you could also try to stop the chickens hurting each other by pushing them away from each other every time they peck each other.

The initial injury was almost certainly a pecking injury, or self-inflicted trying to get into the coop, but she keeps scratching at it.

This morning it was substantially

So do you think that her scratching caused all the wounds on her comb? Combs that are swollen are very painful. Have you looked for any lice or mites on her, especially since is itching and has been broody? Hydrocortisone cream might be something to apply to her wounds, perhaps after disinfecting them.. I haven’t seen one scratch herself making wounds on the comb before.

This morning it was substantially worse. She had dug until she had blood flowing around both eyes and over her beak. I just don't know how to bandage such a large comb while not covering her eyes, but have it secure enough that she can't dislodge it. I should have went back out last night and tried the hydrocortisone cream right way but I was so exhausted, had to work today, and already have a huge sleep debt. Of course I stressed all night and didn't sleep anyways. She had scratched to the point of significant bleeding and her comb is very swollen.

While looking for the hydrocortisone, I found some silver sulfadine, which is used as an anti-biotic for mild wounds and burns. I coated the open portions of the wound with the silver sulfadine and the remaining entire portion of her comb with hydrocortisone. She actually tolerated me rubbing her comb quite well so I am hoping it was soothing. Unfortunately I had to go to my soul-sucking job and won't be able to check on her for another 11 hours, which is a long time to allow things to get progressively worse. Sometimes I think maybe I am in over my head.

To add to the problems, she is being persistantly broody and I'm scared to isolate her for fear of exacerbating problems further. She is also dealing with bumble foot for which I was giving her antibiotics.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm a little confused as to the source of your quotes because I don't think it's from this thread.

But if you did look at the images, she's fluffed out because she is broody so her dietary intake and water intake are much lower than usual.

I did check her for mites but I don't believe that was the initial cause.


The initial injury was almost certainly a pecking injury, or self-inflicted trying to get into the coop, but she keeps scratching at it.

This morning it was substantially


This morning it was substantially worse. She had dug until she had blood flowing around both eyes and over her beak. I just don't know how to bandage such a large comb while not covering her eyes, but have it secure enough that she can't dislodge it. I should have went back out last night and tried the hydrocortisone cream right way but I was so exhausted, had to work today, and already have a huge sleep debt. Of course I stressed all night and didn't sleep anyways. She had scratched to the point of significant bleeding and her comb is very swollen.

While looking for the hydrocortisone, I found some silver sulfadine, which is used as an anti-biotic for mild wounds and burns. I coated the open portions of the wound with the silver sulfadine and the remaining entire portion of her comb with hydrocortisone. She actually tolerated me rubbing her comb quite well so I am hoping it was soothing. Unfortunately I had to go to my soul-sucking job and won't be able to check on her for another 11 hours, which is a long time to allow things to get progressively worse. Sometimes I think maybe I am in over my head.

To add to the problems, she is being persistantly broody and I'm scared to isolate her for fear of exacerbating problems further. She is also dealing with bumble foot for which I was giving her antibiotics.

Well...I do think I that somehow I got my posts crossed. I'm sorry about that! I found the one that I needed to reply to - Thanks for letting me know

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Well...I do think I that somehow I got my posts crossed. I'm sorry about that! I found the one that I needed to reply to - Thanks for letting me know

Oops. Very interesting phenomenon.

I'm still waiting to go home to find out the progression of my hen. :/ I am prepared for the worst.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

It is significantly worse. There’s blood splattered all over her nesting box where she spent all day scratching. Part of her beautiful comb is just dangling there. I’m sick over this. This tiny little thing just turned into a huge ordeal and I don’t know how to fix it. I have put a hobble on her made out of vet wrap and have her enclosed in a pet carrier inside so I can monitor her. I gave her a brief moment of freedom and she tried to take off running and fell. This is awful. Send me good vibes pleas.

 

[TheMother]

It is significantly worse. There’s blood splattered all over her nesting box where she spent all day scratching. Part of her beautiful comb is just dangling there. I’m sick over this. This tiny little thing just turned into a huge ordeal and I don’t know how to fix it. I have put a hobble on her made out of vet wrap and have her enclosed in a pet carrier inside so I can monitor her. I gave her a brief moment of freedom and she tried to take off running and fell. This is awful. Send me good vibes pleas.

Oh man I'm terribly sorry this happened!! Seems like with chickens it can go from 0-100 in a matter of hours or even minutes. And then you're left super stressed and anxious. Sending hugs and moral support cause I'm not sure what to do for the chicken!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Oh man I'm terribly sorry this happened!! Seems like with chickens it can go from 0-100 in a matter of hours or even minutes. And then you're left super stressed and anxious. Sending hugs and moral support cause I'm not sure what to do for the chicken!

Thank you. Just having someone in the world who “gets it” helps. I’m feeling so frustrated because I’m by myself and work has me gone for the better part of 11 hours a day. It’s hard to be angry at the world. The local avian vet refuses to help without a visit which is $140 just by itself and if I want to go on a day off I have to wait sometimes weeks. I guess I am fortunate to even have that option.

Right now I put her in a large box in the living room with hobbles one her feet. She’s snacking and just standing there. This seems to help but I am very worried her comb is infected

 

[Eggcessive]

I am so sorry that she has done this to herself. She must just be miserable, but I have never seen a hen mutilate herself before. I wonder if the antibiotics were making her itch? It might be good to stop them in case she it allergic or they are making her itch. When I was a pediatric nurse, we wrapped baby’s hands in little socks and taped them on so they could not scratch their faces.

 

[TheMother]

Thank you. Just having someone in the world who “gets it” helps. I’m feeling so frustrated because I’m by myself and work has me gone for the better part of 11 hours a day. It’s hard to be angry at the world. The local avian vet refuses to help without a visit which is $140 just by itself and if I want to go on a day off I have to wait sometimes weeks. I guess I am fortunate to even have that option.

Right now I put her in a large box in the living room with hobbles one her feet. She’s snacking and just standing there. This seems to help but I am very worried her comb is infected

I can imagine the circumstance of being at work and away and not getting to fuss over her is adding to the stress.
That's why we're here! We're all a bit loony about doing whatever we can for these chickens and it helps to have a loony tribe lol.

 

[SJK]

Ohhh... poor girl (both of you!). I'm so sorry. As we already established, I don't know much about this stuff but I was just wondering if maybe you might happen to have one of the recommended pain relievers lying around (not aspirin, since she's bleeding, but maybe Rimadyl/Carprofen or Torbugesic or something)? Just thinking that perhaps if it wasn't bothering her so much she might leave it alone a little more. Rimadyl in particular is a super common dog med for pain/inflammation, so if you or a neighbor has some lying around you can just figure the dosage and break off that size piece of the tablet and put it inside a little ball of bread and she will probably take it super easily. Wishing you the best.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

For the sake of updating the thread:

In addition to issues with my chicken Scratch, my rooster has been acting weird. He’s been stumbling and spinning in circles as well as resting a lot. He’s four years old. I am crying thinking I need to put him down so I call my neighbor to ask to come down and do the deed. Low and behold my other neighbor happens to be a poultry professor and the first neighbor calls the poultry professor and five minutes later the professor shows up.

He says if no other chickens are sick, my rooster is probably not contagious. It could be he’s old and demented or perhaps some sort of bacterial thing. He also looks at my injured hen. He says he’s bringing antibiotics for both of them in a couple of days.

In addition, he specializes in feed formulation and offered to bring me free feed, free leghorns (I declined due to lack of space sadly), and free meat chickens.

I had mentioned that I’d wanted to try meat chickens bought was overwhelmed at doing it myself. Turns out he has entire mobile slaughter unit. So I’m addition to free meds, feed, and meat chickens, he will help do the deed. They arrive next month.

I gave him a jar of honey as a thank you and offered up garden goodies when the time comes. I feel like the weight of the entire world has been lifted.

Scratch is handling isolation and her hobbles quite well. Her comb is oozing and dripping but this is at least keeping her from further damage. She could still use well wishes. He confirmed that it is unusually that hens will self mutilate which is likely why I can’t find any information regarding this issue.