when to re-introduce injured hen?

[bekkyb]

One of our 7 hens was pecked very badly Thursday night, done to the bone right above her tail-feathers. How awful to walk into the coop and see a huge gaping hole in our favorite hen! She has always been bottom of the pecking order, often loosing tailfeathers, but nothing like this!! We immediately separated her from the rest and called the vet. We are applying vetericyn twice a day and giving her antibiotics in her water. She's looking much better already! However, she's missing a lot of her feathers. I know it's definitely not time yet, but when do I try to introduce her back into the coop? Do I need to wait until her feathers grow back in? Oh, and we got rid of the 2 hens that were covered in blood but had no actual wounds...
Thanks for the help!

 

[JetCat]

you can put her back as soon as the wound has healed and no scabbing but you don't have to wait for full feathering. if there is any scabbing they'll pick at them repeating the process again. good luck.

 

[flocktastic]

You can also try adding some blue kote to the scabbed area too just for added protection (be careful - it stains things easily!) - look it up. We've had to use it a couple of times on a couple of our hens. I've got some girls that are "pickers" when it comes to pecking order with my bigger flock.