The Poultry Keeper

flump · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 113 Location: Northants

I have just come home from the garden centre to find one of my hens being attacked as i watched,i took her out and she has a lot of feathers missing from her side and a wound that was bleeding.I put her back in the run with the other two and instantly they started pecking at her again.I have not enclosed her in the coop so the other two can't get at her.Any ideas why they are picking on her ? what can i do ? and what should i do with her wound ?
Any help greatly appreciated,im worried they might kill her if i let her out with them.
By the way all three came from the same breeder,i have had them a week & they are 15 weeks old.
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crazypianolady · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 635 Location: Nottinghamshire

Some of the far more experienced people will be able to give more help, but I do know to keep the injured one seperate from the others. They're naturally programmed to peck at anything red. Have you got any antiseptic spray to put on the wound?

Henwife · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 2890 Location: Monmouthshire

If they've already drawn blood they'll peck her to death if you leave her with them. Purple spray the wound & improvise some temporary accommodation for her. Have they got plenty of space, and more important, 'cover' to hide from each other?

Bhindi · Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:08 pm Post subject:

Oh darn, they are buggers arnt they!.. The purple spray you can get from equestrian and farm shops.

When this blows over, you will need to work on some distraction solutions, like carrots, cabbages etc. Can you hang a cabbage up for them, so its not to easy form them to reach and will last longer?

Maybe throw some straw down, and fling in amongst it some sesame seeds, wheat, sunflower seeds.

Apples and tomatoes are also worth adding for a change, but obviously there not very long lasting.

flump · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 113 Location: Northants

Thank you all.........i noticed yesterday after i seperated the poorly one(daisy) that it's just one hen pecking not two of them as she started to peck on the other one(edna) ! Last night i seperated daisy & edna from gertie and they were fine all night.I have just been down to them and un-seperated them and as soon a they were in sight of gertie she started on them again ! Poor old daisy came out of the door of the coop and stood next to me like she was asking for help,i picked her up and the wound doesn't look so bad today,but im at my wits end why gertie is picking on both of them,is there a reason for this ?
Thanks for the advice about using purple spray,unfortunately it's bank holiday monday and knowhere is open today,im going to put straw down like you said bhindi and hope it will deter her from the others until i can think of something else or they will starve.Do you think i should phone the people who i bought them from ?
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Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1168 Location: Manchester

However the pecking started it seems like one of your hens has developed a taste for blood - there's not a lot you can do with a hen like that as far as I know, once they develop cannibalistic tendencies they will attack any and all hens around.

The only cure I've heard about includes an axe and a stew pot.

flump · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 113 Location: Northants

Thank you kitsune,i might think about finding a new home for her then.
I got a bit concerned for daisy after my last post and decided to go and check on daisy again,i was horrified at the actual damage gertie has done to her,she has pcked do much you can see the bone and what looks like tendons or it could just be skin,i was in tears.I put her in my washing basket and took her in home till i could think what i could do.I went to the local tip and picked up a rabbit hutch,cleaned it out and she is now settled in there for the night next to the run with the other two.Im crossing my fingers she will be here in the morning.Would it be worth taking her to the vets ? and roughly how much do you think it would cost me,or will they put her to sleep ? im so worried about her,i was in two minds of keeping her in the house tonight !
These are the pictures i took of her this afternoon.

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1168 Location: Manchester

by the looks of that it needs to be sewn up - a vet would want to anaesthetise her first and that's where the real cost would lie - probably looking upwards of £50

do you think you'd be able to close the skin over and put a stitch or two yourself with help? It will need antiseptic spray and she could do with antibiotics but I have seen hens recover from nasty wounds without.

I've stitched hens before and they don't seem to be too bothered, I don't think there are as many nerve endings in their skin as there are in ours.

Is the wound at the top of the leg, hip joint area?

You could leave it open and it would eventually heal on it's own but definitely needs spraying every day with an antiseptic, savlon wound wash is quite a good one and doesn't sting - iodine based ones are better, betadine or savlon dry antiseptic.

Do you still have this one in with edna? Are you sure she hasn't been pecking at it too - hens will go for open wounds almost without fail.

Bhindi · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject:

I don't know what to say..

If you ring your vet and ask them if they might treat her as a small animal, you may well find the price not to bad..

I wouldn't be too horrified about the prospect of putting a few stitch's in yourself, though it obviously is an uncomfortable idea, but it would be better than not getting the wound closed up (IMO)

Maybe your supplier might be willing to exchange the naughty hen as its happened so soon. If she gets put back into a large flock, she I would hope would be less likely to target the same birds, and with a bit of luck, be given a lesson or two by others?

I feel so sorry for you having to deal with this so soon, you have been so unfortunate. Hopefully once everythings sorted, the memory will get eroded very quickly as the pleasures of chicken keeping take over.

Henwife · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 2890 Location: Monmouthshire

Don't panic. It looks worse than it is. An antiseptic wound spray - probably a pet shop could supply - or the purple spray from a horsey place. Essentially, keep her in a fly free environment - the washing basket in a mosquito net? - as flies and an open wound are not good news. Bear in mind that stress will do more harm than letting it heal slowly in a calm environment.

EGirl · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 944 Location: Dublin, Ireland

God that looks awful! Poor thing. I wonder if you rehome her will she peck there too?

flump · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 113 Location: Northants

Daisy is still in the other rabbit hutch,she seems to like being in there at night.Her leg is healing real good now,except a week or so ago i left all three out on the grass while i went shopping and gertie attacked her again,i finally found daisy hiding under my garden table which was covered over,her leg wasn't to bad but bad enough seeing as it was healing nicely.
The strange thing is since they have been apart all daisy wants to do is go back with them,she walks round the new run watching the other two,she sits on the top looking in and they watch her back.
Well since we have had the rain poor daisy has had to be outside all day with only minimal shelter,so today while the weather was good we put the bumpers on gertie & edna so daisy can go back in with them again,we have tried everything else to stop them pecking daisy but to no avail.
The hardest was trying to catch them ! they are not tame in any way,but after some almighty clucking they were caught and 'bumpered'.At first they tried to scrape them off but they didn't budge,after a while i think they must have been annoyed with me because they went into the coop muttering to themselves.
I put daisy in with them teatime to see what happened,they all seemed to get along fine for about half hour,then gertie decided she would go off on one and attack daisy,ha ha ,didn't work ! all she could do was to slide her beak across daisy's back,daisy just clucked as if to say "ha ha you can't get me now".I was so pleased the bumpers were working,daisy wasn't impressed later tho when it was bedtime as i took her out to go bed in her own coop.
This weekend we are making the coop bigger to accomodate all three of the girls as we feel there is only room for two & realise this could have been the reason why daisy was started on in the first place.
So things seem to be looking up,i do have another querie tho,but that will be in another section.
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Bhindi · Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:29 pm Post subject:

I'm pleased things are looking up a bit... lets hope it continues..