introduced two young leghorns to my existing four year old mix of hens,one has been badly pecked and hens were very vicious to her, has a lump on her face,cant open her eye properly, icolated her but worried infection is not clearing up, got antibiotic from vets a week ago , also if she does survive will i ever be able to put her back in with others.
help, what can i do, injured hen.
SO SORRY your young one is hurt! may we ask: how old, what is the age/size difference? how long did they "see" each other before they went in the same pen? is the other little one in danger too? how many mature hens did they go in with?
if she is eating and drinking then i think she will be OK. she may end up blind in that eye which could affect her ability to protect herself and to forage. i dont' know enough about infections and antibiotics to give you advice. you ought to clean the wound regularly i think. and put the young chicken she was with back in with her eventually. later you can re-introduce them both, or consider finding her a new home with less older hens to pick on her... it's bad enough being at the bottom of the pecking list, if you are blind it makes it more difficult and she might tend to hide...
Now, if it were my hen, i would not give up on her. And if she needed a new home, so be it.
[this is just basic info to help anyone else reading this, you liely already know]
the best way to intorduce new ones to your flock is:
first, consider a thrity day quarantine where they can see each other but not share food water or poop droppings... this is to prevent disease from getting to your new flock. doesn't help with airborne disease though...
second, you can do the backwards intro, where once the new chickens are established, you add one of your old ones to THEIR pen. some people even do this at night so they wake up together in the morning. in this way, there is not a GANG of chickens picking on the new ones.
always watch for fighting and intervene when it becomes vicious, more then just establishing their ranks.
distract them, don't let them be bored. give them treats, toys, or let them free-range together if possible.
never overcrowd your birds.
consider that one youngs never really integrate into an older established flock, they just accept each other's ranks and stay in their own "feathers"... so try to add more than one or two of the same age.
cookiemonster2, there are several poultry folks on here who can help you adress her injuries and give you better instuctions. meanwhile, i hope she gets better soon, for her sake and yours. i feel your pain ;-)
tf
thank you for replying Tamara, I feel alot better hearing what you had to say.
the chickens were point of lay , I dont know how old exactly, the other four are one year old, but v healthy big birds.
with hindsight i now know that you need to keep them seperate but able to see each other for so long before you introduce them, but being a novice i was told to yust put them in the nest box at night and they would be o.k. Obviously that was not the case. atherr
The poorly bird called Hooter, has had 11 days of antibiotic twice a day now and although is eating and drinking well the lump on her face is still as big and white in colour which makes me think the infection is not responding to the treatment.I also bathe her face twice a day with salty water.Her eye has started to open more now but not fully and i think she can still see.
She is v strong and i let her out with the other young bird for a short time together and she is foraging well and showing dominance over the stronger bird,pecking her etc.
I have made a makeshift home for her in the shed , and have a new cage coming shortly to keep her and the other young one together.
From what you tell me i think i will take your advise and keep them seperate , I dont think i could bear to put her through the bullying again.
I really appreciate your help and advise.
Do you think once the antibiotic is finished in the next few days that she will be o.k.?.
she shouldn't need another round. i had one hen that was badly pecked and got an absess on her head. we kept her inside and gave her natural products to stimulate her immune system. then, when i wa up to it[ was pregnant at the time], i llanced and drained the abcess. wish i had done it sooner, it would not have smelled so horrible!
anyhow, she always had asmall know there, but feathers grew back. it would fall to one side of her head or the other. she integrated back out to the flock but it was weeks before she slept out there, she preferred the safety of our carport LOL
i did that once. was new and believed what someone told me, just becasue she was old and had chcikens for 20 years. once i saw the condition of them, i realized i should have never taken any of her advice. it resulted in the death of my dear Foghorn Leghorn and my DH Turken. later she becasem so jealous of my birds that she threatened to keep one if it ever "wandered" over to her property. so i gave her a roo for her birthday. then her son sued me. you just can't win trying to be nice to people who are mean and ignorant...
Aha! TF, now I know why he sued you. He was jealous that you thought enough of his mother that you were willing to give her a roo. Like you say, totally ignorant people.
well, i didn't think that much of her, she is just the kind of person [was my mother's friend] who isn't satisfied until she has what you have. and you ahve nothing left! i thought it could imporve her flock to have him. but then whe wouldn't get rid of her old roo, and her hens were already in such bad shape. he was youn, about 5 months old, she said he was too horny and wanted to give him back. i said, he is yours, i gave him to you. if you don't like him put him in a pot, i guarantee you will like him that way. i've never inquired into his fate...
now her son, he doesn't fall far from the greedy nut tree. he was mad that because i married and DH wanted to stay, i wouldn't be leaving, therefore my mother wouldn't need to sell mor eporperty to him. hi sretirement plan involved putting a road through between the acreages, then didviing into lots, getting this added to the city, and selling to turn into trailer trash. and right by a farm too! trying to get in on the expansion at the PHillips Conoco refineries...
his plans have been spoiled, and I and my DH are to blame. wish he would go jump in what is left of our Lake...
meanwhile, we have a nice fence with an ugly backside ^_^
he can say what he wants about my chickens, it is a free country. but he can't set foot on our property! or come near my children!
tf
[sorry to change the subjcet, just venting a wee little bit. been sick, need a nap!]
I have no problem with you venting. Of course we did hijack this thread, but we might be forgiven.
Don't you get sick too, I had enough of that last month.
I guess we are very fortunate with our neighbors. We live so far out there is no way we could be annexed to any city. They would have to sprawl about 150 miles to get to our place.
Too bad people have to be greedy. But then if everyone was good hearted, the courts could shut down and what would we do then? No judges, no juries, no jails?
LOL
LaLa land...
how is the hen?
Wake up, TF, not my hen. But you are forgiven if you thought it was.
GG
♥^_^♥
no, just too tired to type that long name last night.... see, that is why i lweft a space, this message is fro GG...
and this one for cookiemonster2.... "HOW IS THE HEN DOING?"
gg, I HAVE HAND AND ARM PROBLEMS, THAT IS WORSE AT NIGHT. BUT I LOVE TO TALK/TYPE. and sometimes leave the caps lock on by accident LOL, anyhow it is really hard to want to say so much but shorten it down to what i can type.... i could wraite a page about what you said before... ^_^
TF, I am thinking that not only is he jealous of you keeping the property, he is jealous of your DH because he got you!! (that might have been his plan and he got frustrated because you wouldn't have him.)
So, you don't have to write a page about it. I have seen those kind of people before.
Thanks Tamara, am going to try the lancing method ,as she does not smell too nice at present, will let you know how i get on . appreciate your help .
Tamara, have just been out and tried to lance her face,there was no infection/ infact nothing came out at all which makes me think it is now just a lump?, what do you think?.
a HARD Lump? i really had to SQUEEZE to get it out...
btw, so glad the infection is gone. hopefully the other birds will get used to her looking different... we lost our hen that had the speical lumpy head...
This message was edited Apr 15, 2008 2:42 PM