Injured Chicken

Hello, we are new to poultry - meaning that we just started our mini-flock of 6 hens. They are out in their coop and things were going great until we had an injury. We still don't know what happened, but one of our Rhode Island Reds became injured and the other girls apparently went after her, as they all had blood on their beaks. We have her separated, and she is healing nicely. It has been a few weeks since the incident, so this weekend we decided to put her crate next to the coop so she could see the other girls. It seemed to go well for the past 2 days. Today, we put her in the "run" area with one other chicken (the other girls were closed in the coop). She seemed nervous. The other chicken ignored her for a while, but then tried to peck at her. She is still missing feathers (her head was pecked bare in the attack!) - did we try to reintroduce her too soon? We worry about her socialization......obviously we are NOT farmers, but pet owners. Could it be that they will never accept her again? Should I look for a new home for her? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!! Thank you.

Hi teresa! I think that as long as anything about her looks "different" eg the missing head feathers, they will attack her. I would give her more time in a run next to them and let her regrow her feathers.

Thanks!! We have 3 different varieties (Barred Rock, Golden Comet and Rhode Island Red).....so I wasn't sure how much "looks" might have to do with it. Any idea how long until we get feathers?? Like I said, I'm concerned about the socializing....
Thanks again so much for responding so quickly!!

I'm not sure how long it will take her to regrow those feathers. Does anyone else know?

well, give her extra protein, maybe even feed her eggs to help. and perhaps the ONE you put out with her was the boss. when you trry again, try it with a different one... and try using soemthing to keep the skin on her head soft and supple too.

welcome to Dave's and to the poultry world!

tf

tf,
Thanks for the info. How would I feed her eggs?....I know that sounds a bit weird, but I guess I'm not sure what you mean ....cooked? raw? I hope I am not sounding ridiculous.
Also, good point about the girl we put her in with. Our Barred Rocks seem to be the friendliest (but that's to us)and that is who we put her in with - maybe we should try the other RIR next time......the Golden Comets are a bit "pecky", not so sure I trust them. When you said add protein.....what other form do you mean?
Thanks so much for the help and the welcome. I can't tell you how glad I am that I found this site!!!!
teresa

You can either boil them up and feed them with shell crumbled or you can scramble them.

Great!!! Thanks for the tip.....I'm on my way to scramble.......

Teresa

your very welcome. Mine just love to get eggs as their treat.

you can try a game bird breeder crumble ro pellet, just be sure it is not meidcated. turkey starter is also higher in protien. then there are plenty of protien scraps from the house, and i don't mean peanut butter. remember chickens are not vegetarians...

tf

No, they are evolved velociraptors--In time gene sequencing will support me in this and the chicken will be respected as the mutant carnivore it is.

Scrambled eggs are good--but can the white by itself be harmful?

Thanks so much for all of your ideas. I guess I never really thought about chickens as "meat eaters". I tried the scrambled egg....she wasn't too interested at first, so I left her alone with it. That is the socialization part I'm worried about. The other girls would have gone bananas for it. Being alone, there is no urgency in investigating something new. It's almost as if she doesn't "get it" at times. I've given her earthworms, she could care less.....the others....it's like someone won the lottery!!

I'll keep trying....please keep the ideas coming!! :)

teresa

My Red Rosie, who came from the shelter and was debeaked in a particularly nasty way, was so skinny and droopy when I got her that I wasn't sure she would do well. She has really turned a corner. Her favorite treat, which she devoured right away, is cottage cheese. I highly recommend trying it - high calcium and easy to eat. I now mix cottage cheese with oatmeal, minced garlic and chick crumbles. I sometimes mix in chopped tomato or grapes. Also I mix in a little swig of olive oil sometimes. Her feathers are coming in really nicely and her comb has developed a lot more color since I got her and that was only a couple of weeks ago. Maybe your hen would be interested in the cottage cheese diet?

hmmm, she sounds like she needs a home where she is the big one... ever thought about getting some bantam chicks?

when mine need eggs, i crack open a few, put in a plactic bowl and give it to them straight and raw. they have a genetic tendency to eat eggs that are broken, so she should go for it... i even give them the shell. i just never give them the egg in its whole...

yeah, cottage cheese, and throw in some black oil sunflower seeds for extra fat and fiber...

Love the black oil sunflower seeds! I used to give them to my goats-beautiful shiny coats!

CMoxon - I have actually been reading about your Red Rosie, thinking they were in similar situations, healthwise anyway.
I gave her a piece of ham this morning.....she must have eaten about half of it, because that is what is left now that I am home from work. (trying for protein!)
I will get some cottage cheese tonight. She eats her regular feed just fine. I was just hoping to get a jump start on the feather regrowth.....there should be a "feather club for birds" similar to the Hair Club for Men..... :) then none of the balding chickens would get picked on.
On weekends she can socialize with the other girls, as we are home (for the most part) and can move her cage in/out of the shed. I don't want to leave her in the crate outside next to the run when we aren't home because the crate has relatively large spaces that would leave her in harms way.
I must say, I've been devouring all of the information on this forum. I have sort of deduced that a racoon or weasel (sp?) must have tried to grab her through the chicken wire (which is now reinforced with another kind of wire at the bottom so no one can get a finger in!!) - injured her, she got stuck, bled, and the other girls must have then gone crazy on her. She still has few scabs to get rid of and the "plucked chicken" appearance on one side of her head.....we are keeping that covered with ointment (although she loves a dirt bath.....so....it's a bit dirty too...but past the point of infection).
I did give her grapes the other day too.
Has anyone ever NOT been successful returning an injured chicken to the group? I was just wondering if I should start asking other friends if they would be willing to take her in that case.
Again, thanks so much for all of the advice. I appreciate it more than you can imagine.
Teresa

I have 2 light brahmas with almost no back feathers and a Polish with a pecked head. I would like to separate all 3 for those exact reasons you give. I need a "segregation" coop I guess. But today I noticed one of the light brahmas was picking her own feathers. Maybe I need to make them temporary coats (bonnet for the Polish) to help with this issue?

I also don't know if I can ever introduce Rosie to the group. Her personality traits and friendliness towards me are so different from the others, I don't know how she would manage without a beak to fit into the "pecking order" and I wonder if she would cease to be as friendly based on the other chickens' behavior. Might be the same with your hen.

C - too bad we don't live closer....they could stay together!!
I laughed when I read your post....my husband and I were talking about helmets!!
It is just so upsetting to have to separate them!!

I "hope" that the shelter might get another disadvantaged chicken that can be with Rosie. I don't want any chicken to be hurt or abused and I wish that shelters weren't even necessary, but since it's a fact of life, I will be ready to adopt any other "reject" hen that comes along!

i've never had trouble reintroducing. but try to keep her where they can see her all the time, so they won't forget her. it does take time. i have one who still comes into the entry way to roost, she lived soemwhere else for several months, while the others lived another somewhere else. and i have one in the house now who just fits in anywhere, a nankin. her balding head is healing fast with dermagro...

dermagro, maybe I should get some of that for my bald backed brahmas. Where do you get that?

feed store... spray carefully, it doesn't take much... i fthey have skin, they don't need it. it doesn't grow feathers, just flesh...

I have several really lovely roos that would be very happy to keep Rosie company. Anyone would be a suitable suiter.

Someone Take My Barnevelders and Marans! Please. They are too young and too beautiful to go to auction!

Sob.....

I wish I could take your marans....you need to do an Iowa road trip. Oh wait, why not go to Jacob's Creek!!! Perfect!!!

I don't even know what barnevelders look like...

My light brahma with the bare back - it's really warm to the touch. What's up with that?

Any idea what will help feathers grow back more quickly? It seems to be a fairly slow process.

honestly the raw eggs are your best bet, unless you want to pay 18.59 for a 50 pound bag of gamebirds starter crumble... and make sure she has access to oyster shell as well. protein and calcium need each other.

I tried the raw egg today, in half a shell. I don't think she ate any of it. ?? Maybe I'll see if I can't get a smaller bag of that crumble. She seems eager and happy to eat the regular feed.....less interested in other stuff. ?? Picky eater?
Thanks,
Teresa

well, she could be picky? mine can be... or she may not feel like working hard enough to get it out of the shell. try mixing it in her feed till you get the high protein crumble. this sounds nasty, and i don't normally recommend it, but i bet she could really go for some cat or dog food... small pieces, preferable without all the fancy food coloring...

I'm smashing my labs' dog food right away......anything to get those feathers back!!
I'll let you know how it goes...

Thanks!

p.s. Not any work to eat the egg.....I dropped it in a small cup right in front of her....all she'd have to do is put her beak in it!! I hope she's just not that lazy! :)

Tamara - Well, she seems to like the dog food.....I smashed it small enough that it looks like her feed. I also had a brain storm after you said dog food. This summer we had many bird issues - not at all related to our chickens. We had more than one baby bird that ended up out of the nest, whole nests that came down with several birds, etc. At one point, we went to the vet and picked up this stuff called "recovery" - they told us we could feed it to the baby birds. After talking with the wildlife people, they said ABSOLUTELY NOT....soooooooooooo I still had the small can of recovery. SHE LOVES IT!!! I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner!! Geez!! So....thanks for jogging my memory......
Protein in a can :)
teresa

cool! what IS recovery?

Our chickens hands-down fave is Kit-n-Kaboodle Cat Food.

Recovery is a small can of dog/cat?? food that they give to animals that are "recovering" I guess. I'll get the can and give you the details....

Made by Royal Canin - vet exclusive
Recovery RS

It says only use under vet direction.......hope it's ok..... she seems to like it....??

So far so good.....

T

OK, so she is offically spoiled now and will go on an eating strike when done...

I know.....exactly......but, after what she went through.......she deserves to be spoiled.....

She was really a mess....we thought she was going to lose an eye and everything. But, to our surprise, it looks great now. Not sure how her vision is, but considering we thought it was going to just shrivel up to nothing, it is FANTASTIC!

Gene sequencing HAS discovered that gallus gallus (chickens) are the modern day animal most closely related to T-REX. Sorry, it isn;t velociraptors, but htey are probably kissing cousins, lol.

Try giving her some juicy crickets or meal worms :) Cat food, dog food, flax seed, sunflower seeds, olive oil, all help grow feathers faster.

Suze

Ah! You must be a follower of my arch-nemesis, Dr. Jacques Gauthier, whose seminal work on the bird/dinosaur connection was the bane of my Berkeley experience. Here are further elucidations on his position the place of birds on the Therapod continuum. He clearly moves the T. rex from the Carnosauria to the Coelurosauria, thereby supporting the bird/T. rex connection while in no way denying the similarly placed Velociraptor.

Bwhaaahaahaahaa!

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/saurischia/theropoda.html

Gee, no bitterness there Catscan. Nope, not sensing a single ounce...

It would have been fun to do chicken genetics instead of tomato genetics...

Shhhhh! Claire--I'm no longer allowed to do chicken genetics--part of the plea agreement bundled together with the restraining order by Dr. Gauthier. So now I just do tomatoes....nice blocky round tomatoes. Bland, harmless, do-nothing tomatoes. And I have to take the meds. Its a court order and I promised.